Medicare Plan Benefits Industry, Not Seniors

By Erin Cassin, The NewStandard. Posted February 15, 2006.

Although the new Medicare drug plan can cut costs to beneficiaries who navigate its bureaucratic maze, critics say it's costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.

Recent research into the new Medicare Part D prescription-drug benefit program shows the pharmaceutical industry poised to reap billions in taxpayer funds under the new plan. The data lends new fuel to the fight led by seniors and their advocates to overhaul the program, which took effect January 1.

Under the design of the current scheme, private insurers -- not the Medicare administration -- provide coverage to enrollees, some of who previously received coverage under Medicaid and others who never had government-subsidized prescription drug coverage.