The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Selective Confusion

Selective Confusion

By Robert M. Goldberg on 2.13.06 @ 1:30PM

In light of the continued carpet bombing by the media and Democrats about the mass confusion surrounding the Medicare drug benefits, here's something to consider from a recent news report from CBS 6 Albany News.

"The demise of nursing homes is also being fueled by a growing preference among seniors for alternative care settings like adult day care, assisted-living facilities and home-based care."

There are 45 prescription drug plans available to seniors in my home state of New Jersey. By comparison there are 75 different types of alternative care settings for seniors with different types of services, different monthly payments, locations, etc. The average cost of long-term care is about $20 K a year, which is nearly ten times more than what most seniors with two or more chronic illnesses will spend on drugs.

So let me get this straight: Four million seniors and their families are too confused to choose drug plans but they are more than able to select from twice as many alternative care communities that involved ten times more money?

Maybe I am the one who is confused.

topics:
Medicare

About the Author

Robert M. Goldberg is vice president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and founder of Hands Off My H ealth, a grass roots health care empowerment network. His is new book, Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet is Being Used To Hijack Medical Science For Fear and Profit, was published last month by Kaplan.