According to a new report (PDF) by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), customer service representatives at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) often give inaccurate information to beneficiaries, and CMS documents are needlessly complicated, loaded with technical jargon.
GAO investigators called CMS operators while posing as beneficiaries. According to the report’s abstract, representatives gave correct responses 90 percent of the time when asked about eligibility. When the questions become more complex – which plan was most appropriate at the lowest cost – accuracy fell to 41 percent.
On needlessly complicated information, the GAO found:
First, about 40 percent of seniors read at or below the fifth-grade level, but the reading levels of these documents ranged from seventh grade to postcollege. Second, on average, the six documents we reviewed did not comply with about half of 60 common guidelines for good communication. For example, the documents used too much technical jargon and often did not define difficult terms. Moreover, 16 beneficiaries and advisers that GAO tested reported frustration with the documents’ lack of clarity and had difficulty completing the tasks assigned to them.
The deadline to sign up for Medicare’s new prescription drug plan is May 15. To find out what CMS officials had to say about the report, see this Washington Post story. Also see Free New Mexican.
In other news, activists opposed to the new drug plan protested outside the home of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt earlier this week.