Medicare Will Revise Guide to New Benefits for 2006

Was the confusion intentional or unintentional?--Dictynna

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: May 22, 2005

WASHINGTON, May 21 - For two years, health policy experts have been warning that Medicare beneficiaries may be confused by complexities of the new prescription drug benefit. Now it turns out that Medicare officials were also confused, not just about the drug benefit but also about other options.

The Bush administration is revising a preliminary draft of the 2006 Medicare handbook - the main tool for educating beneficiaries - after discovering that many statements in the document were inaccurate, misleading or unclear, even to people who have worked on the program for decades.