Analysis: Troubled Medicare Troubles GOP
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Medicare drug program that was supposed to win political points for Republicans has exploded in their faces as this election year has begun. It's a particularly vexing problem for the GOP, since older Americans are such active voters and no one seeking office wants to see them angry. Since the Bush administration's prescription medicine program began on Jan. 1, tens of thousands of elderly people have been unable to get medicines promised by the government. Some 20 states have had to jump in to help them.
And while officials promised anew on Tuesday that a fix was on the way, Democrats pointed to the confusion surrounding the rollout and pounded the administration and its GOP allies in Congress. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts cited a ''systemwide failure'' that he said ''puts the health of our frailest citizens at great risk.'' Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York likened the government's response to a ''man-made disaster'' to its missteps on Hurricane Katrina... ''The political fallout is potentially enormous,'' said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. ''This is a program that touches tens of millions of people. And anytime that a government program is working poorly, and is affecting adversely so many people, it's bound to have huge consequences.''...
Republicans fear that, if the problems aren't fixed quickly, their political woes could mount, especially once enrollment closes May 15. Some Republicans, inside and outside the White House, have discussed moving back the deadline until later in the year...
''It's a very complicated program. I'd like to ask the president to explain it himself,'' said Paul C. Light, a professor of public service at New York University. ''If the president and the Cabinet had to enroll, I think they might soon find out that this is a very tangled web of promises that are difficult to unravel.'' And it isn't only older voters that plan supporters have to fear. ''A lot of parents are getting help from their kids, many of whom are baby boomers. And they also vote,'' Light said.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Medicare-Woes.html