Newswise — Senior adults can start signing up on Tuesday, Nov. 15 for one of about 40 different Medicare prescription drug plans. Weighing all of the options is likely to be confusing and overwhelming, a Saint Louis University health economist says.
"My fear is that as a result of this, relatively few people will enroll in the program because it is so complex, defeating the purpose of the legislation," says Timothy McBride, Ph.D., professor of health management and policy.
He predicted we're likely to see "groundswell of complaints," and Congress will come back to attempt to fix the problem.
"This will lead to a huge political fight because the President, on one hand, does not want the program tinkered with, and the Democrats, on the other, want to expand and change the program considerably, while the more fiscally conservative members of Congress want the program curtailed. It's easy to see how all that leads to a train wreck."
McBride has spent more than 14 years researching how Medicare and medical insurance affect health and is available for interview before noon on Wednesday.
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