From Reuters yesterday, "Medicare Ads Ruled Not in Violation of Rules":

Bush administration advertisements touting the new U.S. Medicare law did not violate a ban on using taxpayers' money for partisan purposes but did omit important facts about prescription drug benefits, congressional investigators said on Wednesday.

The General Accounting Office reviewed the Medicare ads at the request of Democrats, who charged the promotions were political in nature and may have violated a law against using tax dollars for "publicity or propaganda."

Medicare is the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and the new $530 billion measure was passed by the Republican-led Congress and recently signed into law by President Bush.

The $12 million ad campaign by the Department of Health and Human Services included a national television commercial, "Same Medicare, More Benefits." The ad featured an older man rhetorically asking, "So, my Medicare isn't different, it's just more?"

"Notwithstanding the omissions and other weaknesses in the materials, their content does not constitute a purely partisan message," the GAO said in a report.

By law, a federal agency is allowed to communicate with the public using materials that include some political content, the report said.

The report said the ads' notable omissions included failing to mention that Medicare patients may have to pay an annual fee of up to $30 for enrolling in a discount card program, or that savings may vary among the drugs covered, the GAO said.

The new Medicare law provides prescription drug coverage for seniors starting in 2006. Seniors can start enrolling in a drug discount card plan later this year.

But critics say the new drug benefit will be a boon for the pharmaceutical industry, and the government will not get the best deal because it cannot negotiate prices directly with drug makers.