Federal lawmakers could have designed a prescription drug plan to assist seniors who truly need help paying for life-saving medicines. Instead, they created a program for all seniors, even the most affluent.

The result: This expensive program still leaves some low-income seniors struggling to buy prescription drugs. Millions of seniors are beginning to hit the "doughnut hole," or the coverage gap in Medicare.

The federal drug plan pays for about 75 percent of prescription costs until a beneficiary has used more than $2,250 worth of drugs this year. At that point, beneficiaries begin paying the full price for medications. Medicare does not kick in again until the beneficiary spends $3,600 out of pocket during the year.

Seniors who reach the so-called doughnut hole often have chronic illnesses or have to take expensive drugs. Many of them live on a modest income and have seen their savings eroded by medical expenses. It is those seniors, estimated to be from 3.4 million to as many as 6.9 million people, who need help and should have been the focus of the federal drug plan. But federal lawmakers, in an obvious desire to curry political favor with a huge voting bloc, made sure the drug plan was available to almost 40 million seniors.

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The upshot is that the Medicare drug plan, at $750 billion over 10 years, is both too expensive and stretched too thin. Congress doesn't have enough money to provide comprehensive coverage for the seniors who most need it. Had the plan focused on the truly needy, the coverage gap known as the doughnut hole might not be a problem.

It's true that the federal government will kick in 95 percent of the costs of drugs once a beneficiary has spent $3,600 out of pocket. But the doughnut hole still is causing a lot of aggravation among seniors.

That's not the only thing that has seniors upset about the drug program. Many seniors and pharmacists are overwhelmed by the number and complexity of the private insurance plans that contract with Medicare. South Carolina, for instance, has 45 plans offered by 19 companies, and each one features different monthly premiums, deductibles, copays and drugs covered. Pharmacists say they have to deal with different paperwork and computer programs for each of the 45 plans.

Earlier this year, millions of low-income elderly and disabled seniors were denied medications because of computer foul-ups.

Clearly, there's a lot of room for federal lawmakers to simplify the Medicare drug plan, cut its cost and make it more consumer-friendly. Lawmakers also should alter the drug program so that it focuses on low-income seniors who need the most help in buying life-sustaining medications.