03-24-1999

POLITICS & POLICY - MEDICARE REFORM: WELLSTONE INTRODUCES DRUG BENEFIT BILL

 
      Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) introduced a bill yesterday that
 would provide a prescription drug benefit for the Medicare
 program, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.  Similar to a bill
 introduced earlier this month by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and
 James McGovern (D-MA), Wellstone's measure would cover the $17
 billion price tag "by earmarking estate taxes for the program." 
 Wellstone said, "This increase in drug costs really hits seniors
 disproportionately.  It's not uncommon to find someone of low or
 moderate income paying up to a third of monthly income (for
 medicine).  And the price that people are charged is a national
 disgrace."  He added, "I see this as very much a federal
 government responsibility.  It shouldn't be based on the state
 you live in and whether the state is progressive or not.  This
 ought to be part of Medicare reform" (O'Connor, 3/24).
      KENNEDY SOUNDS OFF
      In a Boston Globe op-ed, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) argues
 that "the ball [is] in Congress' court" on Medicare reform,
 following the failure -- well-deserved, he argues -- of Sen. John
 Breaux's (D-LA) premium support proposal.  Kennedy touts
 President Clinton's plan to devote 15% of the government surplus
 to shore up the Medicare program, and says the medical care of
 seniors needs to be improved -- by correctly prescribing drugs
 and providing flu shots, Pap smears and mammograms, for example -
 - not only for the sake of the elderly, but "to keep Medicare
 affordable as the population ages."  Kennedy also calls for
 increasing investment in biomedical research, and continued
 expansion of programs that give discounts to high-volume Medicare
 hospitals.  Most of all, he says, "We must find a way to close
 the greatest gap in Medicare and the greatest anachronism -- its
 failure to cover prescription drugs."  Kennedy concludes, "Senior
 citizens deserve an improved and strengthened Medicare, not a
 weakened one" (3/24).
      KASICH STRIKES BACK
      House Budget Committee Chair John Kasich (R-OH), in a 
 USA Today "Opposing View" column, writes that Clinton's budget
 plan falls woefully short of the GOP proposal.  He writes, "The
 Republican proposal locks up over $100 billion more than the
 president's for Social Security and Medicare. (The president, by
 the way, wants to cut Medicare spending by $11.9 billion over the
 next five years.)"  Kasich concludes, "The Republican budget
 clearly spells out the direction government should take as we
 enter the new millennium" (3/24).
      PARADOX CITY
      NPR's Julie Rovner reports that the Medicare debate is
 highlighting sharp ideological divides.  Kaiser Family Foundation
 President Drew Altman said, "Basically, it's between those who
 favor the market and those who favor government."  And while some
 argue that heavy government involvement brings inefficiency and
 perverse incentives, Families USA's Ron Pollack "doubts the
 private market can serve beneficiaries as well as the government
 does."  He said, "Prior to 1965, the private sector had ample
 opportunity to serve the aging population, and they failed to do
 so."  But an even greater divide exists between policy experts
 and the public.  Altman said, "The policy people look at the
 fiscal crisis facing the Medicare program, and they're asking the
 question, 'How can Medicare be trimmed back in order to assure
 solvency in the future?'  The American people are looking at an
 aging population and they're asking, 'How can this program be
 strengthened, so that I can have drug coverage, so that my mother
 can have drug coverage, so we can have some long term care?'  So
 Washington's looking to cut back, the American people are looking
 to expand."  Altman cautioned, "The American people are not ready
 for big, big changes in Medicare.  They need to be brought along,
 so the burden is going to be those on any sides that any changes
 are going to be needed in a sacred program like Medicare." 
 Rovner reports, "The final conundrum:  experts on both sides
 agree that with Medicare's financing crisis still a decade or
 more away, it will be difficult for Congress to muster the
 political will to make what could be painful changes.  But they
 also agree that the sooner changes are made, the less painful
 they will be" ("Morning Edition," 3/24).  
 



American Healthline