AARP | Press Center | Issue Statement | Statement By AARP Policy and Strategy Director John Rother in Response to the President's Budget Proposal on a Prescription Drug Benefit

February 4, 2002 Washington, D.C.
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Statement By AARP Policy and Strategy Director John Rother in Response to the President's Budget Proposal on a Prescription Drug Benefit

"Although federal budget constraints are greater than last year, so too is the need for affordable prescription drugs for Americans age 65 and over. Unfortunately, disease and pain did not disappear with the budget surplus.

In his State of the Union message, President Bush placed the Medicare prescription drug issue squarely on the domestic agenda. The president's budget allocation of $190 billion over the next decade for the Medicare drug benefit is not enough of a down payment on a program that would be affordable and available to all.

The coming decade will produce substantial surpluses for Social Security and Medicare, combined. AARP believes it is both prudent and advisable to allocate a portion of those surpluses to strengthen Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit.

In just the past few weeks, over 40,000 AARP members have called the White House and members of Congress, asking them to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. These are real people with real needs, not just numbers in a budget. Putting off developing a prescription drug plan in Medicare isn't going to make it any easier. We have to make sure people have access to lifesaving medicines by establishing a prescription drug benefit in Medicare this year."

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