For This We Added an Unfunded Liability Greater than Social Security’s?
Between 2003 and 2007, elderly beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid experienced a two-fold increase in unmet prescription drug needs. In 2003, 10.8% reported difficulty affording prescription drugs, which grew to 21.3% in 2007.
The new Medicare drug benefit did little to close large prescription drug access gaps between elderly white and African-American beneficiaries and healthier and sicker beneficiaries. For example, three times as many elderly African-American beneficiaries (17.6%) went without a prescribed medication in 2007 as white beneficiaries (6.2%).
Who is “we”? This was George W. and the Republicans in Congress. Yes, I know. The Democrats wanted an even larger drug benefit. But when Bill Clinton was president, they never did it. They just talked about it.
Agree with Bret. It was the worst thing George Bush did as president.
However, in critiques of Bush, you almost never see this mentioned.
Nonseniors don’t have to buy a separate drug benefit. Instead, they can enroll in integrated health plans. Too bad more seniors cannot do the same.
The data show that people on Medicare leave Medicare HMOs for Medicare fee-for-service when they become ill and need a lot of care. Apparently the integrated health plans limit access to advanced care as a price of the integrated drug benefit.
That’s fine if you don’t need a lot of care, not so good if you do. Fortunately Medicare still preserves that choice.