Good News, Bad News About Part D
Saturday, January 28, 2006; Page A20
Harold Meyerson ["Bush the Incompetent," op-ed, Jan. 25] made much of the difficulties that have arisen during the startup of the Medicare prescription drug benefit program. Yet he said nothing of the good the program is doing for millions of seniors and people with disabilities who are finally getting help paying for their medicines. Nor did he give President Bush credit for getting the prescription drug benefit passed -- something that had been debated for 10 years.
The addition of drug coverage is the biggest change to the Medicare program in 40 years, and any time you make a big change in a small time, unanticipated problems will arise. When Medicare was rolled out in the 1960s, it had problems and plenty of criticism.
The measure of the drug benefit's success is not whether the program is perfect on its first day but whether we solve the problems quickly. We are doing so, and the system is improving every day. The progress is real, and so are the benefits.
MIKE LEAVITT
Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
Washington
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