December 31, 2003

| Happy New Year >>

I toyed with “Making Medicare Mediclear” as a title, so be happy with what you got.

Anyhoo, I’ve been known to occasionally advance the completely unfounded assertion that Ruy Teixeira only got where he is by telling liberals exactly what they want to hear. But he’s taken some strong strides towards accomplishing something I’ve been loudly pining for for some time now — writing a readable, interesting article about Medicare.

There’s a little eye-glazing that happens during his big numbers graf, but pound for pound, this piece pretty clearly lays out the problems seniors are currently having with this bill, that the deductibles, premiums, coverage gaps, and co-pays spotted all over the bill’s 600+ pages mean that it doesn’t help the average senior all that much:

The average drug spending by Medicare beneficiaries is projected to be about $3,250 in 2006, when the benefit takes effect. Under the bill just passed, a beneficiary will wind up having to pay 70 percent of this typical drug bill.

The rest of Donkey Rising, Teixeira’s “WebLog,” looks to have some pretty good stuff also. Check it out.