Whither part D? or Wither Part D?
It’s not often the President of the United States does health benefit plan enrollment meetings, so Bush’s recent national tour touting Part D stands out as one of the more unique moments in health benefits history. But this is more than an interesting factoid, because Bush’s speaking tour came about because of the dismal enrollment rates seen to date. And with the enrollment period ending in less than two months, it does not look like things will get much better.
While the President touts the enrollment of 25 million seniors into the program so far, 20 million of those had coverage before the program started. That leaves a total of 23 million seniors eligible for enrollment – out of which 5 million, or less than 22% have taken the plunge.
As I’ve been saying all along, any voluntary benefits plan with participation under 70% is in trouble – so Part D looks to be in big trouble.
If enrollment stays slow and low, Congress may well have to extend the enrollment period. While Bush has said that is a non-starter, he also threatened to veto any Congressional action on the Dubai Ports deal. This turned out to be a hollow threat, and with Congress increasingly independent of the White House, and Republicans seeking to salvage anything from the ashes of Part D, an extension could well be in the works.
(Bob Laszewski was the first to characterize Bush's role in enrollment meetings)