Bush Administration Playing "Fast and Loose" with New Medicare Drug Enrollment Numbers

New Numbers Released Today Exaggerate Coverage for Low-Income Seniors

Washington, D.C. – The Bush Administration today released new numbers concerning the enrollment of seniors and people with disabilities in the Medicare (Part D) drug program. The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, about the new numbers:

“The Bush Administration’s new report about enrollment in the Medicare (Part D) drug program plays fast and loose with the numbers. The report inappropriately minimizes the number of low-income seniors who have not enrolled in the program.

“The Administration has made two misleading adjustments to its numbers. First, the Administration now says, for the first time, that there are only 13.2 million low-income seniors eligible for special subsidies. However, in the Federal Register of January 28, 2005, the Administration estimated that ‘approximately 14.4 million beneficiaries will be eligible for the low-income subsidy in 2006.’

“This sudden disappearance of 1.2 million low-income seniors makes the Administration’s enrollment performance appear better than warranted. 

“Second, the Administration, again for the first time, now estimates that there are 1.0 million low-income seniors who are receiving drug coverage from such sources as the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Indian Health Service, and state drug programs. The new estimate, even if accurate, does not tell us whether any of these low-income seniors are receiving the special help they need to make out-of-pocket drug costs affordable.

“These fast and loose numbers about drug program enrollment are consistent with the misleading data the Administration continues to issue about the program. Although the Administration would like the public to believe that over 30 million people have enrolled in Part D, in reality, only approximately 9 million people now have drug coverage who did not have it at the start of the program.”

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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