President Talks Up Prescription Plan in Minnesota

President Bush on Friday portrayed the government’s new Medicare prescription drug plan as a great bargain for seniors, but he said that persuading all of them to sign up would be “a massive education assignment.”

“It makes people nervous” when they are told to fill out government forms, Bush said. But he said that enrolling for the new benefit was relatively easy, requiring participants to answer 16 simple questions on a four-page form. Democrats, however, argue that the program is overly complex with large gaps in coverage.

Taking a break from promoting his Social Security restructuring plan, the president expressed concerns that the benefits of the new Medicare plan, which takes effect Jan. 1, would not initially be appreciated by many of the 42 million Americans who receive Medicare benefits.

Bush’s shift in focus -- this week to Medicare and starting next week to the Iraq war and the economy -- coincides with growing opposition to his plan for private Social Security accounts.

Polls show his approval ratings at the lowest levels of his presidency, in part because of growing pessimism about Iraq and skepticism over the Social Security plan.

Starting Oct. 1, information about Medicare prescription drug coverage will be available to seniors as well as people with developmental and physical disabilities, mental illnesses, HIV or AIDS. Enrollment starts Nov. 15. The program was part of a Medicare overhaul law pushed by Bush and signed into law in December 2003.

“It’s a good deal. This isn’t political talk. This is true,” Bush said during a visit to a center for seniors in Maple Grove.

But Rep. Pete Stark (D-Hayward) criticized the program, telling reporters in Washington it was “inadequate and overly complex.” He said the government’s materials explaining the benefit did not provide details about the gaps in prescription drug coverage.

“If the president’s goal is truly education, the president owes it to senior citizens and people with disabilities to be upfront about the gaps in coverage,” Stark said.

Under the plan, after a Medicare recipient pays a $250 deductible, Medicare pays three-fourths of the next $2,250 in drug costs. There is no benefit between $2,250 and $5,100 -- a $2,850 gap in coverage. But once a beneficiary has spent $3,600 on drugs out of pocket, including the deductible and co-payments, the government pays all but 5% of additional drug costs.

“It’s a good deal for everybody, but it’s a really good deal for low-income seniors,” Bush said.

“You don’t want people choosing between medicine and food.”