Even when you are enrolled in Medicare Part D, it's really worth having that conversation with your doctor.

What those numbers do is cry out for public policy makers to take this challenge very seriously.

Many people are taking drugs that are highly advertised. They may ask doctors for them or the doctor may prescribe them without realizing the cost implications. Even for a person just switching one drug, they could save enough money to easily pay for the premium of their Part D plan.

Having Medicare drug coverage underscores the need for seniors to talk to doctors and pharmacists about switching to cost-effective drugs.

People are going to go untreated because of our failure to make sure that everybody has coverage.

I realize that. But the potential payoff for seniors is so huge that we hope it will be a worthwhile investment for them.