Jacobs, Lawrence2018-03-282018-03-282004-04-01https://hdl.handle.net/11299/195056President Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 in December following a divided and mostly partisan vote in the House of Representatives (220-215) and the Senate (55-44). The new Medicare act offers drug coverage to all Medicare beneficiaries who choose to enroll, helps low-income seniors with costs associated with the benefit, and encourages greater participation by private insurance companies. Even as it makes these contributions, however, the new Medicare legislation also presents new challenges for the country and the Upper Midwest where two million beneficiaries live.enmedicareimprovementmodernization actReport