The NYT reports that new projections from the Bush administration show the Medicare drug plan costing about 10 percent less over the next decade than had previously been forecast. The article tells readers that the new projections will help support the Republicans' case that the drug plan should not be changed. (It may have been worth mentioning the Bush administration's history of manipulating these projections for political purposes.) The last paragraph of the article cites Leslie V. Norwalk, the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as saying that the cost is lower than expected both because drug prices are rising less rapidly than expected and "enrollment in the new Medicare program is lower than expected, because some beneficiaries found they had equivalent drug coverage from other sources." Yes, the fact that many beneficiaries have decided that the Medicare drug program is not a good deal for them provides a good argument against changing it. What am I missing?
--Dean Baker
