Misinformation about the Affordable Care Act, An Annoying Tendency

This Associated Press release by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar was printed in the Austin American-Statesman August 26th. The article compares apples and oranges in the first and third sentences:  

"More than 3 million seniors may have to switch their Medicare prescription plan next year, even if they're perfectly happy with it, thanks to an attempt by the government to simplify their lives.' 

"And it risks undercutting President Barack Obama's promise that people who like their health care plans can keep them."

The Medicare prescription drug plan (Medicare part D) is an optional 2006 addition to the Medicare health care plan, similar in principle to the optional private health care plans that supplement Medicare's coverage. In fact, some of these optional supplemental plans include prescription drug plans which might be preferable to Medicare part D. At any rate, the President's promise was only in regard to health care plans, not the Medicare prescription drug plan. Even more to the point, the President desired health care savings to be part of the Affordable Care Act, and the Congressional Budget Office certified the predicted savings in the legislation Congress passed. This savings includes a reduction in number of the Medicare part D plans, 178 in Texas alone by my quick count. Based on location alone, my spouse would choose among 34-50 drug plans depending on how much choice of doctors, hospitals, and health provider networks she desired. To the annual plan changes made by insurance companies, she would add yearly changes in her medications. There are six web pages at www.medicare.gov and three computerized tools for entering location, medications, and choosing among the plans then offered. The President promised and delivered savings via simplification of this process, eliminating duplication and confusion. Fall 2010 is the first stage of these changes.

The author contradicts himself in quoting former Medicare chief Leslie Norwalk, "It depends on how (Medicare) handles it to try to make it as seamless as possible," referring to the fact that Medicare has not yet made the decisions which would validate the 3.7 million number or any other number of people. Mr. Alonso-Zaldivar is among people who have recently presented less than truthful information concerning the implementation of the ACA. This is an annoying tendency in writing about this historic legislation.