Medicare Part D Enrollment Numbers

Federal claims that 24 million people are now receiving financial help with prescriptions have been analyzed by the Medicare Rights Center using government data. 

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  Of the 24 million, only 14.3 million were found to be enrolled in the drug benefit. 10 million have other coverage and are not participating.
  
  
•  Of the 14.3 million enrolled, 3.2 million are estimated to be receiving prescription coverage for the first time. 
  
  
• 4.5 million in Medicare Advantage plans are likely to have better coverage than their previous plan. 
  
  
• 6.2 million are likely to have worse coverage than their previous plan. The total number of people with new or better coverage totals only 7.7 million.

Of the 3.6 million who voluntarily enrolled, 330,000 were members of state pharmaceutical assistance programs in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, or Vermont. Another 78,000 retirees were "voluntarily" enrolled when their employer's plan transformed to a Part D plan. Only 3.2 million people signed up voluntarily.