MEDICARE

Landmark legislation enacted in December 2003 gave seniors the first opportunity for comprehensive prescription drug coverage in Medicare's 40-year history. The “Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003” (MMA) ensured that Medicare beneficiaries have broad access to the benefits of market competition, consumer choice, and medical innovation, including prescription drugs. Until 2003, traditional Medicare's fundamental benefit design, financing, and government- management model lacked these fundamental strengths of our nation's private health care system. Reform was necessary to ensure that beneficiaries have a Medicare program that provides choices, including prescription drug choices, and is flexible enough to accommodate advancements in health care.  By every measure, MMA has been a huge success.  It has 90 percent participation with an 89 percent satisfaction rate and is currently costing less than projected.  Meanwhile, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continues to press forward with changes to the overall Medicare program as costs of the program have been increasing. Costs are projected to increase 7 percent over the next 10 years, leaving lawmakers and CMS to determine how to fund this ever-growing program while keeping in mind notions like value, efficiency, and price controls.