1 million enroll in Medicare drug plans

1 million enroll in Medicare drug plans

WASHINGTON - Medicare officials have announced that at least 1 million people have signed up for the new prescription drug plans offered by various insurers. The announcement came on Thursday. 30 days after the enrollment program officially began.

It is estimated that around 28 million and 30 million people are eligible to enroll into this program by the end of next year. However, many critics remain unconvinced about the benefits of the program and say that the enrolment process is too complicated. Robert Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center called these new figures “an indictment of the convoluted drug program."

He was reacting to the report that 1 million people had already enrolled, "The majority of people are shunning the program. People are faced with a bewildering array of for-profit insurance plans. These plans are seen as so complex and unreliable that many people in great need of help are staying on the sidelines," he said.

However, Mike Leavitt, the Health and Human Services Secretary said that the early results were pretty encouraging. The Government expects that 21 million people who are set to receive coverage from January 1 will sign up, "You'll find you'll save money and you'll never have to worry about high drug costs in the future," he said.

The drug programs are an extension of Medicare benefits to cover the essential drugs that many elderly and disabled people need to lead normal lives. The drugs are provided by private insurance companies who are on contract with the government. Part of the drug costs are borne by the government and part of it by the beneficiaries.

There are many plans to choose from, and low-income families are entitled to additional subsidies. The main private companies involved in this program are Humana Inc, UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc. Humana maintained that round 1.1 million to 1.2 million people are set to sign up for its plans by the New Year, while UnitedHealth announced last week that 2 million had signed up.