HHS Secretary, Mike Leavitt is "misrepresenting" the facts regarding "millions" of veterans leaving the VA plan for the Medicare Part D. As usual there’s more to the story and in a recent AP story, Kevin Freking sets the record straight by reporting both sides of the story here
Medicare officials are touting the success of the new drug benefit by pointing to defections from another government program.
"It might interest you to know that about a third of those who are on the Veterans Administration plan chose to enroll in a Part D plan," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told reporters recently, referring to the benefit's official name, Medicare Part D.
Problem is, the Veterans Affairs Department says there have been no signs, large or small, of folks leaving.
"I've seen some of those comments about a million veterans leaving VA for Part D. Our data doesn't support that," said Mike Valentino, the VA's pharmacy director. About 4.3 million got medicine through the VA this year, up from 4.1 million in 2005 and 3.8 million in 2006, he said.
So who's right?
oh, and big surprise - PHRMA is ignoring facts as well and parroting HHS ...
The trade association representing drug manufacturers has adopted a similar strategy as the HHS Department when it comes to touting Medicare's program. "As many as 40 percent of Medicare eligible veterans enrolled in the VA drug plan have opted for a Medicare plan," said Ken Johnson, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, in a recent letter to the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times.
They are obviosly running scared since the election and are out there trying to pre-empt any move towards negotiation of drug prices for seniors.
At least there's someone out there trying to expose the lying liars.
To be fair, Freking mentions the disadvantages of the VA Plan, but that has more to do with delivery and access issues unique to the VA and would not necessarily be due to the negotiated prices. therefore, not really fair to compare.