HFMA VIEWS

How is Medicare Part D performing? Gail Wilenski--senior fellow at Project HOPE and a commissioner on the World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health--has this to say in a column entitled "Implementing the Medicare Drug Benefit--the First 90 Days" in hfm magazine:

After dire warnings from those opposed to the Medicare drug plan, echoed by many in the media, an assessment of how Part D is doing seems to depend on the eyes of the beholder.

A headline from The Washington Post reads “Survey Refutes Criticism of Medicare Drug Plan” (March 13, 2006), while a headline from the Christian Science Monitor reads “Confusion Remains as Drug Plan Deadline Nears” (April 12, 2006).

In what may be a classic case of a “glass half-empty/glass half-full,” both sides can lay claim to some legitimacy in their views. By the end of the first quarter, some 28 to 29 million people were covered by Part D out of a total Medicare population of about 43 million. Of these, some 7.2 million had individually signed up. The rest were dual-eligibles, military retirees, retirees with employer-sponsored insurance, or individuals who had signed up for Medicare Advantage. This means that there were still about 15 million beneficiaries who could have been on Part D but were not, at least as of April, with a May 15 enrollment deadline looming in their future.

Click here to read the rest of her column.