Smooth transition for 2007 Medicare Part D

CMS has released the enrollment numbers for the 2007 benefit, noting that fewer than 10% of beneficiaries switched plans and that enrollment reached 1.4 million. Acting administrator Leslie Norwalk noted that the start of the 2007 program did not see many of the problems that occurred when the benefit was introduced last year. The current data do not include the more than 250,000 beneficiaries who received a deadline extension to Feb. 14 for signing up after not receiving a notice of change from their 2006 plans as well as some Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who have a May deadline. Enrollment increased by more than 800,000 over the 2006 plans, including newly eligible seniors, people who did not sign up in 2006, as well as beneficiaries who switched from other government-funded prescription benefits.

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