Congress should give seniors more time and standardized plans to choose from when it comes to a Medicare prescription drug plan that has left seniors "dazed and confused,"according to Insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman.

"The complicated process of signing up for a drug plan is clearly overwhelming our seniors," Poolman said. "Because they are overwhelmed, many are just choosing to wait to sign up or not sign up at all."

Poolman held a news conference Friday in his office, where he held up a large sign that showed 68 percent of those eligible for Medicare Part D in North Dakota have not signed up for coverage.

"Personally, Ithink those numbers are abysmal,"Poolman said.

Mike Fierberg, a spokesman for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Denver, said it's too early to panic over the number of people who have signed up for a plan, because they have until May 15 to avoid penalties.

"To say that people aren't signing up really isn't true," Fierberg said.

Fierberg said extending the deadline might only reduce the urgency of people who need to sign up for a plan, and standardizing plans will reduce options that could be beneficial to some seniors. There are currently 41 plans to choose from in North Dakota.

If seniors don't sign up for a plan by May 15, they face penalties that will result in higher costs when they eventually choose a plan. Poolman said the deadline should be extended to Dec. 31.

Poolman, a Republican, has sent letters to Sens. Byron Dorgan, Kent Conrad and Rep. Earl Pomeroy, all Democrats, asking them to advocate for significant changes in the plan.

He also has sent letters to Michael Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Conrad said he already has been pushing for an extended deadline and simplification of plans.

"Those are the very things I've urged the administration to do for some time,"Conrad said.

Conrad said he voted for legislation to extend the deadline, but it failed after a majority of Republicans voted it down. Conrad also said he has urged officials to have fewer plans.

Pomeroy, who served eight years as insurance commissioner, said the plan is the most complicated one he has ever seen for seniors.

"Ithink the signup rates are low, and they show that the program is too complicated,"Pomeroy said.

Rebecca Pollard, press secretary for Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said Dorgan has taken several different tactics to help simplify the plan, and he has co-sponsored legislation to give seniors more time.

Fewer than 9,000 of 105,094 North Dakotans eligible for Medicare Part D have signed up for a plan.

However, about 10,400 seniors were automatically enrolled because they were dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, and another 15,000 already have coverage through another plan. That leaves about 71,500 North Dakotans eligible who have not yet enrolled in a plan.

(Reach reporter Tom Rafferty at 223-8482 or tom.rafferty@;bismarcktribune.com.)