WASHINGTON - The Bush administration, rejecting calls to extend the May 15 deadline for enrolling in the Medicare drug plan, says the program is working so well that 86 percent of seniors now have some source of prescription coverage.


Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt announced Wednesday that 37 million Medicare beneficiaries out of a total of 43 million now have coverage, with less than a week to go before the deadline.
But critics accused the administration of inflating the numbers by combining counts of people who had signed up for coverage with estimates of seniors who had insurance from other sources. That could underplay the number of seniors facing lifetime penalties if they fail to meet the deadline for joining the Medicare program.

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