A Benefit for Insurers
Source: By MILT FREUDENHEIM, New York Times, March 31, 2006
Critics who say the private insurance industry got too big a role in the new Medicare prescription drug program may not know the half of it. For patients, the program's rollout has had mixed reviews, with many happy customers but more than a few tales of woe. But for many big insurers, the new Medicare program is shaping up as a great opportunity. And prescription drugs may be only a starting point. So far, about 18 million Americans are participating in the new drug program, known as Medicare Part D. If things play out the way some big insurers hope, the drug program could prove to be a feeder system into a much greater private presence in Medicare — a longstanding goal of the Bush administration.