Math Challenged

The top story in this morning's Boston Globe, by journalist Kay Lazar, was about a cut in a state-funded prescription drug program for seniors.

I took the numbers in the first two paragraphs of of the article and went to my Excel program and let Bill Gates do the division. He divided the cut in the program ($11,000,000) by the number of people impacted (44,000). This was all as reported in the article. The result was $250 per person.

As a "senior" myself, I understand that $250 is a big number, and I can only image what it might be like for those who have only their social security at this point or are facing large medical expenses, or both.

However, when I look at the example they present, Mr Ralph F van Dean, I am a little confused. He normally pays $50 for his wife's meds, but this time he had to pay $793. So, I subtract the previous $50 and get $743. I then subtract the $250, which is Mr van Dean's share of the $11,000,000 cut, and I get $493.

My question is, who got the $493.

Now, I know the cynics out there, people like Globe columnist Scot Lehigh, think it is House Speaker Sal DiMasi. While I wouldn't discount that possibility, given the state of ethics on Beacon Hill, I would look first to the newspaper itself.

Remember, this is The Boston Globe. It is entirely possible there is no $493. It is possible the article was wrong. Given the the Globe's problems with numerancy, it is possible that the editors didn't bother to do the math themselves and missed the fact that the number might be ten times higher or the number impacted only one tenth.

So, I called the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs to ask about this. A Ms Erin Kelley talked with me and she said that the article was accurate as written. But, she is checking on the way the numbers broke out and will get back to me--good civil servants are a treasure. I will update this or put out a new post and link here when she does close the loop. In the mean time, I have EMailed and left a voicemail message for the reporter, Ms Lazar. Nothing yet.

More to follow.

Regards -- Cliff