The Medicare prescription drug benefit "has scored some real successes after a staggeringly bad start, but it seems to have left some beneficiaries worse off," a New York Times editorial states. According to the editorial, CMS "seems to have resolved most of the bureaucratic and computer problems that initially left tens of thousands of people unable to obtain essential medicine quickly," and "[c]omplaints at pharmacies" and wait times for telephone calls to Medicare prescription drug plans have decreased. Enrollment in the Medicare prescription drug benefit "has been reasonably successful, although less so than the administration implies" because many beneficiaries enrolled in the program "already had coverage, through employers, unions or other government programs," the editorial states. Many Medicare beneficiaries who "previously had little or no coverage" have not enrolled in the prescription drug benefit, and about "three million of these people are poor enough to qualify for hefty subsidies," the editorial states, adding, "This is the most glaring failure in the enrollment drive." In addition, "it is not clear how successful the plans have been at negotiating low drug prices with the manufacturers, ... how many people are better off with the program than they were without it" or "whether the program has attracted enough healthy beneficiaries to subsidize the chronically ill and thus hold down premiums," according to the editorial. The editorial states, "Most important will be the impact Medicare drug coverage has on patients' health," adding, "Analysts will need to monitor the new drug benefit closely to see whether its cost-sharing arrangements have ... negative effects" (New York Times, 6/5).