Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act provides seniors and people with disabilities with the first comprehensive prescription drug benefit ever offered under the Medicare program.
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) was signed by President George W. Bush on December 8, 2003, after passing in Congress by a close margin.It produced the largest overhaul of Medicare in the public health program's 38-year history. Its most touted change is the introduction of an entitlement benefit for prescription drugs, through tax breaks and subsidies.
In the years since Medicare's creation in 1965, the role of prescription drugs in U.S. patient care has significantly increased. As new and expensive drugs have come into use, patients, particularly senior citizens for whom Medicare was designed, have found prescriptions harder to afford. The MMA, is meant to address this problem. The MMA legislation provides seniors and people with disabilities with the first comprehensive prescription drug benefit ever offered under the Medicare program, the most significant improvement to senior health care in nearly 40 years.