Retiree plans offer Rx coverage.

A majority of retiree health benefit sponsors said that for 2006 they continued to offer prescription drug coverage, despite the availability of the new Medicare Part D drug benefit, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Most plans also accepted the government's retiree drug subsidy (RDS) payments, which were created along with the Part D benefit as an incentive for privately sponsored retiree health plans to continue offering drug coverage. The GAO found that, in the short term, retiree health plan sponsors appear to have left drug benefits largely unchanged. But over the longer term, it's not clear whether the availability of the Medicare Part D drug benefit may make it more likely that sponsors will stop offering prescription drug benefits, the GAO said.