Are women better off because of the new medicare drug legislation?

The passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 will help to reduce the out-of-pocket burdens women will face in 2006 once the full drug benefit is introduced. Nonetheless, the legislation is less than ideal and creates a number of issues that should be improved to meet women’s needs. Three key elements of the legislation that were essential in gaining its passage stand in the way of such improvements: limits on the amount spent on the benefit, requirements to rely on the private sector, and a failure to adequately arrange for future financing. A major overhaul is unlikely, but it is possible that modest improvements to aid Medicare beneficiaries will be considered in the future. Several of those improvements are described here.