News in brief - March 13, 2006

High court to hear late-term abortion case - Medicare Part D enrollment rises

High court to hear late-term abortion case

The U.S. Supreme Court announced in February that it would revisit the "partial-birth" abortion issue by taking up the Gonzalez v. Carhart case challenging the federal law banning the procedure.

Three federal appeals courts have ruled against the 2003 law. The Supreme Court in 2000 struck down a similar Nebraska prohibition because it lacked a provision to protect the pregnant woman's health.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed lawsuits opposing the federal "partial-birth" abortion ban.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists opposes the federal ban but had no comment on the Supreme Court's announcement that it would hear the case.

Medicare Part D enrollment rises

More than 5 million seniors and people with disabilities had voluntarily enrolled in the Medicare Part D drug benefit as of the end of February, and about a quarter million more are signing up every week.

Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt issued a progress report detailing the enrollment rise. The 4.9 million beneficiaries who signed up for a stand-alone drug plan and the 500,000 who chose a Medicare managed care plan since Nov. 15, 2005, brought the total number of people getting government help with drugs to more than 25 million. The majority were enrolled automatically in a Medicare plan or are receiving federally subsidized drugs through a former employer or managed care plan that already had drug coverage.

The drug program took flak at first when patients, physicians and pharmacists complained about technical problems that caused some beneficiaries to go without prescriptions.

Leavitt said many of these issues had been resolved either by drug plans or HHS but that some barriers remained. "Systems are improving, and where we find problems, we are fixing them," he said.