Medicare Part D: Still Not Flying

The highly touted prescription drug plan written by Big Pharma for Big Pharma has been plagued by disasters almost from the day it was misbegotten. The first bit of bad news was the so-called donut hole that exists after the first $2,500. Not only is the next several thousand dollars not covered, no other insurance could be obtained that would cover that gap. Next there was the incredible complicated array of plans, some of which covered one prescription drug, but not another also required by the patient. Then there was the paper work disaster that prevented those seniors who had enrolled in a plan from getting their medication under that plan during the first month of the coverage.

Now we learn that that those who might actually benefit from the plan haven't enrolled because they are ignorant of its details or because they are afraid to give up financial information for fear it will affect their other benefits. From the Washington Post:

A $400 million campaign by the Bush administration to enroll low-income seniors in prescription drug coverage that would cost them just a few dollars per prescription has signed up 1.4 million people, a fraction of the 8 million eligible for the new coverage.

At this rate, by some calculations, the government is on track to spend about $250 for each person it enrolls, and even then it would have only 2 million poor senior citizens taking advantage of what is perhaps the most generous government benefit available today.

When Congress enacted the first-ever drug plan for Medicare's 42 million beneficiaries, it created a tiered system in which the poorest and sickest seniors pay the least. About 6 million elderly and disabled people were switched from state Medicaid programs to virtually free Medicare coverage. Retirees at the high end of the income scale have the option of purchasing a plan with standard out-of-pocket costs such as monthly premiums, deductibles and co-payments.

The group sandwiched in between -- those earning too much for Medicaid but less than $19,000 -- qualify for coverage with no premiums, no deductibles and co-payments of less than $5. Congress gave the Social Security Administration $500 million primarily to identify and enroll them.

...The task has proved to be so daunting for the Social Security Administration (SSA) that one high-ranking official wrote a desperate e-mail this month describing overwhelmed telephone lines, heavy backlogs, and visits to field offices that jumped from 140,000 people a day in the fall to 200,000 in January.

"Those of you on the front line have been expressing your deep concern that SSA is not positioned well to help people understand, enroll in and negotiate" the discount drug program, wrote Linda McMahon, deputy commissioner of operations. "Now we are seeing the consequences of that fact.

"It's not a rosy picture, and the news doesn't get better," she continued, warning that other projects, such as processing disability reviews, will be cut back as a result. "I won't try to kid you. This is going to be a very difficult year." [Emphasis added]

In other words, the government has just pissed away $500 million dollars in trying to extend a benefit without having the workforce in place to assist in enrollment. I would say that it almost looks deliberate, but that would be unkind. I mean, surely this regime wouldn't play games with some of the most vulnerable of Americans, would it?