The Prescription Drug Debacle

Kevin Drum points out something vaguely familiar:

THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG DEBACLE....PART 341....Jon Cohn — who's writing a book about the American healthcare system — promises more about the Medicare prescription drug debacle shortly but wants to pass along one tidbit while we're waiting:

It's a Government Accounting Office report, issued in December, warning that the Bush administration hadn't done enough to make sure the most medically and financially vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries could actually get their drugs.

If you do get around to reading it, make sure to check out the part where Mark McClellan, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, says the GAO has it all wrong — the part where he insists that "CMS has established effective contingency plans to ensure that dual-eligible beneficiaries will be able to obtain comprehensive coverage and obtain necessary drugs beginning January 1, 2006."

You know, that sounds familiar. The Bush administration is warned that its planning is inadequate but it ignores the advice and plows ahead without listening.

Very familiar. It's on the tip of my tongue. Help me out here.