Kiss
President Bush has pointed again and again to the success of driving through a Medicare drug benefit for low-income seniors, part of his Compassionate Conservative™ cover. But in the reality-based world where seniors actually reside, not too many of them have been taking advantage of this benefit (via the Seattle Times and the Chicago Tribune):

The government's offer to give $600 in free prescription drugs to low-income senior citizens covered under Medicare expires next week and has gone untouched by roughly 75 percent of those eligible for it. The government's offer to give $600 in free prescription drugs to low-income senior citizens covered under Medicare expires next week and has gone untouched by roughly 75 percent of those eligible for it. [...] Critics and card sponsors conceded that there has been confusion among seniors because so many cards are in circulation and earlier forms were difficult to understand. "The discount card started off with too many choices, and people got frozen in place by the overwhelming number of choices," said John Rother, policy director for AARP, an advocacy group for people 50 and older. The group also sponsors a Medicare-approved discount card. "The enrollment process itself was so complicated it stopped even people who wanted to get signed up from completing it. Now we have a simpler process, but it still has the stigma that it had before." [...] Now, a senior in downtown Chicago, for example, would have to choose among more than 24 cards, each offering varying discounts on different selections of drugs. Merely obtaining a list of cards from Medicare's Web site requires detailed information on income and assets.

First off, how many seniors have access to the Web? I also remember hearing an NPR report about this about three or four months ago that discussed the long wait seniors had for accessing help via phone lines.

Now, President Bush continues to press forward with his Social Security personal accounts scheme, but it seems that this, too, may be overwhelmed by excessive choice (in determining what stock portfolio to invest in, etc.), which can easily stop folks in their tracks. The beauty of Social Security is that it's so simple. As the saying goes, keep it simple, stupid (KISS).