More fun with Medicare Part D

Remember when people were hassling the Bush administration about how complicated Part D is, and how especially difficult it is for old people, who are the primary beneficiaries of Medicare, to understand?
Not so, said the administration mouthpieces. Especially Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services. He was able to help his aged parents figure it out and sign up for the plan that was right for them, and pretty much anyone else can do the same.

Well, here's what the Salt Lake Tribune is reporting:


Not even the senior parents of Washington's top health official are immune from headaches caused by the new Medicare drug plan.
Dixie and Anne Leavitt - parents of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt - recently were forced to change Medicare plans after learning that the one they chose imperiled their retiree medical coverage.
The elder Leavitts joined the program last fall with some fanfare and help from their son. Anne Leavitt, 73, was quoted in The Salt Lake Tribune touting the online enrollment as "smooth," and a guaranteed money-saver.
Neither she nor Dixie, 76 - who made his fortune in the insurance business - could be reached for comment on Thursday. But they reportedly suffered no real lapse in coverage. Secretary Leavitt's office confirmed that the couple signed up for another Medicare plan through their insurer, Utah's Public Employee Health Plan.

So let's see: you "made your fortune" in the insurance business, your son runs the program, and you still can't figure it out.

I hate to argue with the President, but maybe there is a problem there after all.