A survey released last week by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found only 20 percent of seniors plan on participating in the new $750 billion Medicare prescription drug benefit. The survey also found that 37 percent plan on not enrolling in the program and one-third say the plans being offered are too complicated.
Many seniors are confused about the Medicare prescription drug benefit even after Bush administration officials conducted a summer public advertising campaign to promote the new program, according to FoxNews.com. One of the authors of the survey, Dr. Mollyann Brodie, stated, "It is still clear that many seniors still don't understand the benefits. There seems to be a good deal of confusion."
The cause of the confusion is the complexity of the federal rules that seniors must follow in order to be eligible for the prescription drug benefit. An individual can enroll in a standard plan that pays for prescription drugs after paying a $250 deductible. The Boston Globe reported that for annual expenses between $2,250 and $5,100, there is no coverage, a gap commonly referred to as the "doughnut hole." Private companies are offering plans based on the government model that fill in the coverage gap. Many of the plans require several levels of co-payments depending on how the drugs are categorized, according to the Boston Globe.
Many states offer more than 40 different plans that incorporate the new prescription drug benefit. State Senator Mark C. Montigny from New Bedford, Mass. commented on the dizzying array of drug plans, "This is the ultimate example of public policy gone awry. In every state of the country, there's such confusion that we'll be lucky if there isn't a national implosion."
Seniors have built a socialist America over tens of years and now they cannot understand what they have done. They are confused... Next life, vote Libertarian. Actually, those issues would be much more solvable with private social security; company targeting that market would also compete on the quality of paperwork.
It is sad to see that those reading the laws (seniors) cannot understand the writers of the laws(seniors called senators). Of course the Medicare Drug Plan will confuse seniors; as a matter of fact, it will confuse anyone who reads it. It's not a plan at all, it's a bad, already used band-aid.
kp
Medicare in its present phase [even renovated] cannot survive. The problems with America has been the Majority of Seniors and others who think Government should do everything for them. The response of government is to give them a psychological kick in the groin. Right now, we have just concluded a mayoral election in Miami Florida. An Independent Candidate Enrique Santos lost to the Oligarchy. The reason were the elderly people [who suffered under this oligarchy] that were paid [with public funds] to campaign for this oligarchy. I will probably be a witness to those elderly people [that sold their soul and votes] stating: "I Lost My House, I Lost My Savings, I Lost My Medicare [which is always the case]". My answer to these people have been "You wanted an oligarchy, you wanted big government, you wanted to cradle to grave and it was pulled out from under you. Now Elderly people who sold out, Live with the Consequences". As for the Libertarians and other Political Organizations, bring such discussions to the fore [by legal means].
Am I a horrible person for laughing at the idea of a bunch of seniors being confused? Is that the kind of thing that should earn a "______ is no laughing matter." type response?
Posted by: Paul P. at November 14, 2005 02:40 PM