HARD TO SEE HOW IT COULD HAVE GONE ANY BETTER:

New Medicare Drug Plan Is Called a Success: Officials Cite Significant Rise In Coverage (Amy Goldstein and Shailagh Murray, May 17, 2006, Washington Post)

Hours after the deadline for older Americans to sign up for Medicare drug benefits, President Bush's top health advisers yesterday rushed out a preliminary tally that they said shows 90 percent of the 42.5 million eligible people have federal or other kinds of coverage for medicine -- including at least 1 million who enrolled during a final blitz in the past week.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt announced that, based on "very good estimates," 38 million elderly and disabled people have gotten drug coverage through the new Medicare benefit, an employer or another government health program.

Leavitt praised the six-month enrollment process, which ended at midnight Monday, as "a remarkable American moment . . . sort of a de Toqueville moment."

Now you can give the slackers a second chance.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 17, 2006 7:34 AM