Copyright 1999 The Buffalo News
The Buffalo News
June 8, 1999, Tuesday, CITY EDITION
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 665 words
HEADLINE:
CLINTON WILL PROPOSE ADDING DRUG COVERAGE TO MEDICARE
BYLINE: From News Wire Services
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
President Clinton, who proposed expanded mental-health benefits
Monday at a White House conference, plans later this month to propose changing
the Medicare program to offer prescription drug coverage to all beneficiaries.
Under the president's plan, senior citizens and disabled Medicare
beneficiaries would pay a monthly premium to cover part of the cost of the new
drug benefits, according to administration officials.
The out-of-pocket
charge, which the administration has not pinpointed yet, would be less than the
average $ 90 a month that many retirees now pay for private coverage.
"We are working on a benefit that is both meaningful and affordable to
both the beneficiaries and the program," said Chris Jennings, White House
domestic-policy adviser. The president's Medicare proposal and Monday's
conference on mental health are seen as part of an administration effort to
revamp the nation's health-care system on a piecemeal basis after the nation
rejected an ambitious effort by Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to
overhaul the system five years ago.
At the mental-health conference, the
Clintons fervently urged insurers to offer coverage for disorders of the mind
equal to coverage for the rest of the body -- while rejecting the industry's
contention that "parity" would drive up premiums for all.
"It is high
time that our health plans treat all Americans equally," the president said.
"Government can and must lead the way to meet this challenge."
"We must
do whatever it takes," Mrs. Clinton stated.
Setting the standard,
Clinton directed the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, the nation's
largest private insurer, to provide full parity by 2001 to its9
million beneficiaries.
Expanding mental-health benefits
is only one of an array of administration initiatives that would bring
far-reaching changes to the nation's health-care system.
The White House
also wants to strengthen the rights of managed-care patients, enroll early
retirees in Medicare, expand coverage to children, protect privacy of health
records, provide tax credits for long-term care and improve nursing home
quality, to name a few matters under consideration.
"What was being done
all at once is being addressed one at a time, in piecemeal and incremental
fashion," said Dr. Bernard S. Arons, a government physician who helped draft
Clinton's Health Security Act in 1993-94.
The president will unveil his
Medicare prescription drug proposal this month as an alternative to a plan
unveiled in March by an advisory commission. Jennings said Clinton's proposal,
first mentioned in his State of the Union message in January, has yet to be
finalized.
Administration officials are looking for ways to make the new
benefit affordable without imposing government price controls on drugs, possibly
by hiring companies to help negotiate the best prices and manage the program.
Beneficiaries of Medicare, which serves 39 million elderly or disabled
people, now pay a $ 45.50 monthly premium for coverage that doesn't include
drugs. Many beneficiaries now pay for prescription drug coverage under private
insurance, know as Medigap, to plug the gaps in Medicare.
Under
Clinton's plan, employers who now offer drug benefits to retirees would be
allowed to buy Medicare drug coverage.
In addition, the government would
encourage competition among private health maintenance organizations by
requiring them to bid for the right to enroll Medicare beneficiaries.
The costs of Medicare drug coverage are daunting. One government
estimate found that adding even a modest benefit, such as paying 75 percent of
drug bills, would cost Medicare at least $ 20 billion a year.
Clinton
has proposed using about $ 700 billion in income tax surpluses over the next 15
years to boost Medicare's finances and pay for drug coverage. The administration
contends that adding a prescription drug benefit could save Medicare money by
reducing the need for hospital care.
GRAPHIC: Photos by
Associated Press; Tipper Gore cheers as President Clinton arrives to start the
White House conference on mental health at Howard University Monday.; Newsman
Mike Wallace discusses his past bouts of depression with Tipper Gore as Hillary
Rodham Clinton and John Wong listen during the White House conference on mental
health Monday.
LOAD-DATE: June 10, 1999
