The Democrats are laying into the Bush Administration’s new Medicare Discount Card Program, labelling it a huge embarrassment as ’Seniors have overwhelmingly refected’ it, according to Tom Daschle, Senate Democrat Leader, South Dakota.

While the Republicans try to put on a brave face at disappointing uptake numbers, the Democrats are saying the new law is a joke, they say it helps drug companies and insurance companies more than elderly patients.

The full Medicare prescription drug benefit goes into effect in 2006, the discount card is designed to carry patients (elderly ones) through to that moment.

Tom DeLay, Republican, Texas, said of the Democrats \"They don’t like the politics so they are deliberately hurting their own constituents.\"

Even with the discounts, American seniors can get far better prices if they buy from Canada. The Families USA health advocacy group said that the 30 most popular drugs for the elderly had gone up in price so many times, on average four times (ten times in some cases) that any discounts achieved with the Medicare discount card were meagre in comparison to the recent price increases.

Seniors on low incomes will also get a $600 a year subsidy for their prescriptions. However, the Democrats say that low income seniors who already get care assistance from their states cannot get this subsidy.

The number of seniors getting their cards has been a huge disappointment - less than 500,000 so far, plus 2.2 million who automatically get a card because they have been in a Medicare health maintenance organization. With 41 million on Medicare, this number is pathetic, say many experts.

According to Medicare spokespeople, discounts can be about 18% off brand name prices and up to 60% off generic drug prices.

Under Medicare law, Medicare is not allowed to negotiate for lower drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.