Implementing the MMA: a lot has been written about the adequacy of the drug benefit in the new Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act and the political arm-twisting needed to get the legislation through Congress

Healthcare Financial Management, June, 2004 by Gail R. Wilensky

Implementing the major provisions of the MMA will take a Herculean effort by CMS. It is important for Congress and the public to understand that any substantive changes to the legislation now--either altering the decisions required to make the law operational or forcing a change in the implementing regulations--will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible for the drug benefit to commence in January 2006. Such an outcome may be acceptable to individuals who believe the legislation is fundamentally flawed, but for the individuals who will depend on the benefit, waiting for it any longer may become unbearable.

Gail R. Wilensky, PhD, is a senior fellow at Project HOPE and was the HCFA Administrator from 1990 to 1992.