Medicare Part D Popularity is Instructive
Born out of political controversy and a litany of pundit predictions that it would never work (plans wouldn’t participate, seniors would be too confused by the choices, costs would be too high), the Medicare Part D prescription drug program continues to be quite the success story.
A survey of seniors nationwide, conducted in March by KRC Research, found that 84 percent feel favorably toward the Part D program. That’s actually up six points from the program’s popularity rating in 2006.
The survey numbers demonstrate that Congress did a good job in constructing the program, relying upon competition between private plans to hold costs down and drive up value. 88 percent of those surveyed say their Part D plan is providing them good value on their medicines, and seven of every 10 respondents say they have lowered their prescription drug spending because of the benefit.
Even with this high approval rating, there is still work to be done. We need aggressive outreach to locate those financially-challenged beneficiaries who aren’t enrolled in the program and could benefit from the Part D low-income subsidies.
But the news is good. As former Democratic Senator John Breaux said to me when we were doing media interviews on the subject, how often do you find a government program that people genuinely love and that costs less than originally anticipated?
