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   Drug Plan for Seniors

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Topic: Drug Plan for Seniors (Read 179 times)

darnchts
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Drug Plan for Seniors
« on: Jul 28^th, 2003, 12:53pm »

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Drug plan for seniors risks replay of 'catastrophic' past
Mon Jul 28,

As Congress struggles to pass a prescription-drug benefit under Medicare, seniors might be surprised to learn that lawmakers approved such coverage once before.

In 1988, President Reagan urged lawmakers to expand Medicare to cover catastrophic medical expenses under a modest plan that was supposed to cost seniors a mere $60 a year and taxpayers nothing. By the time it was enacted, Congress had passed a far more expansive bill. It included drug coverage and required seniors to pay as much as $800 a year for benefits inferior to the less-expensive private coverage many already had. The zero-cost promise to taxpayers also was broken. Within 18 months, the 'catastrophic care' bill turned into a political catastrophe as a revolt by seniors forced Congress to repeal the law.

Fifteen years later, lawmakers are making some of the same mistakes. The drug benefits that House and Senate negotiators are trying to pass threaten to ensnare seniors once again in a drug plan with high costs and glaring coverage gaps, while putting taxpayers on the hook for more than a trillion dollars in new costs over the next 20 years.

Except this time, seniors are recoiling even before the two houses finish ironing out differences between the bills passed in June. This month, the AARP, the powerful retirees group with more than 35 million members, sent a lengthy critique of the drug plans to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. The National Association of Retired Federal Employees announced its opposition to the plans in June.

Many seniors need the government's help paying excessive drug costs. And updating Medicare to include drug treatments covered by private health insurers is long overdue. But by trying to provide benefits to every senior without doing the hard work Medicare reform requires Congress again risks going down the wrong path. Some concerns with the legislation:

Reduced coverage. The Congressional Budget Office (news - web sites) (CBO) estimates that as many as 37% of seniors who now get drug coverage through former employers would lose those benefits, as companies find it cheaper to shift their retirees to the new Medicare coverage. Since most of these private plans cost seniors little and impose modest out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions, many seniors would be forced to accept benefit cuts. Recognizing this risk, the House and Senate have bills in the works to protect retired federal workers including retired congressmen from getting dumped into Medicare. These privileged retirees get to select their health coverage, which includes a drug benefit, from a menu of private health plans approved by the federal government.

Higher costs. A report from the Senate Budget Committee finds that seniors who are forced to drop existing coverage for the new Medicare plan will see their drug costs climb, unless they are living near the poverty line. Annual drug bills for seniors with incomes up to $14,500, for example, would fall more than $800 on average. But an elderly person with an income above $17,000 would pay $500 more, the report found. That's because many seniors forced into the Medicare plan would face higher premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket co-payments than under their existing private coverage.

Big taxpayer bills. Even before a compromise on a drug plan is reached, the estimated cost keeps going up. Last week, the CBO said the price tag on the Senate and House plans would be as much as $21 billion, or 5%, higher over 10 years than lawmakers had claimed when they passed their bills. The revised estimate still could prove too low. If more seniors sign up than expected, if drug cost increases exceed current projections or if participating private insurers demand bigger payments than planned, costs would climb more.

Defenders of the House and Senate prescription-drug plans say the main difference between today's versions and the 1988 fiasco is that this benefit is voluntary, while the plan seniors rejected back then was mandatory. But the new legislation will hardly seem voluntary if, as predicted, large numbers of employers drop their retirees' drug plans and force seniors into the less comprehensive and more expensive Medicare plan.

Doing nothing about the high cost of prescription drugs is not the answer for the quarter of seniors lacking any coverage. Yet passing a flawed bill that makes the problem worse is no solution, either.

For starters, Congress can provide drug discounts for seniors who can't pay their drug bills. Both plans, in fact, include temporary drug-discount cards until other drug benefits are phased in. The cards would let seniors get discounts at the pharmacy and would provide direct subsidies to low-income retirees.

More broadly, Medicare requires a major overhaul to restrain a cost explosion for taxpayers when the baby-boomer generation starts turning 65 within a decade. Tough choices are required to encourage seniors to be more cost-conscious about using health care and sharing costs.

The last thing seniors need is for Congress to take the country down a familiar legislative path that leads to a new benefit seniors don't want and taxpayers can't afford.

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darnchts
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Re: Drug Plan for Seniors
« Reply #1 on: Jul 28^th, 2003, 12:56pm »

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This whole thing makes me so mad!! Angry

Mom had decent coverage with Blue Shield and Blue Cross by paying almost 400.00 a month for it. But when she turned 65, she had no choice,. she has to go into Medicaid. That means that her prescription drugs are no longer covered and her benefits are much less than she got before. Of course her cost is down but she had to take out a drug supplement insurance which only covers 30% of the cost and a Medicaid supplement from Blue Shield to cover all the things that Medicaid doesn't cover. Now they want to change things even more and take away even more from it all. And they wonder why so many Seniors suffer and don't seek out treatment. Angry

edited to say that as always..it is good that the Goverment is making sure that those who can afford all this type of thing are covered and get only the best. Afterall, it should be those who have it all that get it all, RIGHT? Bunch of Jerks!!

« Last Edit: Jul 28^th, 2003, 12:58pm by darnchts »

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luci
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Re: Drug Plan for Seniors
« Reply #2 on: Aug 3^rd, 2003, 5:09pm »

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dar, this may never be settled in our lifetime even. My Mom pays $200 just for a policy that will cover her if she ever needs around the clock care, not to mention the cost of her meds. That is about $500 per month. What I feel so sad for are these seniors who only get $550 Social Security each month. How do they live? So sad, something neds to be done and NOW.

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