Medicare Part D: The Cost

The cost to the Medicare program and the American taxpayer is huge
(estimated to be about $800 billion over the next ten years), yet the benefit is very poor for most beneficiaries. Enrollees are burdened with as much as $4,050 in out of pocket expenses (2008) in addition to monthly premiums, before catastrophic coverage kicks in. Furthermore, the benefit deteriorates year-after-year as the deductibles, co-pays, and coverage gap (donut hole) increase at about double the rate of inflation.

A report by the Center For Economic and Policy Research, The Savings from an Efficient Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, found the Medicare
Modernization Act (the bill that created Medicare Part D) is significantly more expensive than it needs to be because it was created to increase the role of private insurers, and protect the interests of drug companies, rather than efficiently administer health care. According to the study, potential savings would not only fully finance the drug benefit and thereby eliminate contributions from
beneficiaries, it would still leave a surplus of $40 billion which could be divided between state and federal governments.