'Technical correction' being considered: republicans, democrats say Medicare bill needs fixing.(Practice Trends)

WASHINGTON -- The new Medicare reform law has some significant holes that need to be fixed, several experts and Congressional staff members said at a health policy conference sponsored by Academy Health and Health Affairs.

Overall, the prescription drug benefit will help a lot of people, said Robert Reischauer. Ph.D., president of the Urban Institute, adding that there are several areas of concern with the plan.

For example, beneficiaries who don't enroll in the drug benefit as soon as they are eligible for Medicare will face some very stiff monetary penalties.

Also, although the plan does offer premium subsidies and other help to low-in-come beneficiaries, determining who is low income depends on both income and assets.

"Many elderly people are probably in for a rude shock if this test is enforced with any type of stringency at all," Dr. Reischauer said.

Even Republicans, who generally supported the bill, are not in agreement about how good the benefit is. On the one hand, "anyone who tells you this is not a significant benefit has no idea what they're talking about," said Tom Scully, former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and now a Washington attorney. "There is absolutely no doubt that it takes care of low-income seniors."

But a Republican Senate committee staff member disagreed. "The expectations of people that the benefit is thin, that the benefit isn't very good, are probably true," said the staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity. But at least lawmakers were able to get $400 billion to use for beneficiaries' health care costs, "and I don't think, looking at the deficits being reported in the ...