‘Medicare Drug Benefit Costs Are Down’

Your November 30 article rightly notes that Medicare Part D is 30% under budget this year — an amazing achievement for a government program [National, “Medicare Drug Benefit Costs Are Down,” November 30, 2006].

One big reason the drug benefit costs less than expected is because it is leveraging the power of the competitive marketplace. Unlike Medicare Part B, which covers doctors and outpatient services through a fixed-price scheme, Part D, which covers prescription drugs, is administered by competing private plans. These plans compete fiercely to offer generous coverage at low premium prices.

Even as Part D prices fall, overall spending on Part B has been rising by roughly 10% per year. The Medicare drug benefit is breaking new ground. It shows that government can leverage free-market forces to cut costs while giving seniors more choices.

GRACE-MARIE TURNER
Presiden
Galen Institute
Alexandria, Va.

‘Augusto Pinochet, 91, Chilean Dictator’

The obituary of Augusto Pinochet that appeared on December 11 says that the president he overthrew, Salvador Allende, “had become the first Communist in the world to win power in a democratic election” [Obituaries, “Augusto Pinochet, 91, Chilean Dictator,” December 11, 2006]. This is correct but perhaps misleading. In 1950, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman was elected president of Guatemala. He was considered a communist by President Eisenhower and John Dulles, and after military threats was forced to resign and flee the country in 1954.

GEORGE JOCHNOWITZ
New York, N.Y.