Still Working On It

Sign up now, we'll tell you about it later. As soon as we figure it out, that is. NYTimes (07.17.05);

"Four months before enrollment begins, the Bush administration has started a cross-country campaign to sell its most significant domestic policy initiative, the new Medicare drug benefit. But it is encountering skepticism from some consumers, whose participation is critical to the program's success. In a stop here [that would be Scarborough, Maine], four top Bush administration officials, including the surgeon general of the United States, said the drug benefit would be a boon to retirees, worth $1,300 a year to a typical recipient and much more to those with low incomes. But the officials offered none of the details that would have allowed beneficiaries to judge for themselves." Officials' Pitch for Drug Plan Meets Skeptics

Information such as the monthly premium amount and what drugs are actualy going to be covered won't be available until September. "The economics of the new program depend on the assumption that large numbers of relatively healthy people will enroll and pay premiums, to help defray the costs of those with high drug expenses. Insurers say the new program cannot survive if the only people who sign up are heavy users of prescription drugs." A trenchant query: "Carmela Decker, 74, of Portland, asked, 'Wouldn't it have been easier if Medicare had just established a prescription plan and said, 'We will pay 80 percent of the cost'?'". Why yes, Ms. Decker, it would have been much easier. But making it easier wasn't really the point, you see. "Mr. Bush and Congressional Republicans wanted to create a market in which insurers would compete for Medicare business by offering better benefits at lower prices. Maine officials said they expected 10 or 12 drug plans to be offered here." Yep, picking the best one ought to be a lot easier. "Carol S. Rancourt, coordinator of health insurance counseling at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging, said, 'My biggest fear is that people will be confused by the large number of options, will be shocked into inertia and will just do nothing.'" This thing has abject failure written all over it.