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The Bush administration is pushing for major changes in Medicare.
Most of the changes are directed toward carving out a niche for private insurance
companies to directly compete with the national health care plan.
"Seniors hate this bill, but drug companies love it," says Gary Zuckett of the West
Virginia Citizen Action Group.
A senior citizen advocate speaking at a press conference this week in Charleston,
said it is unlikely members of congress "feel the pain" of healthcare, with their
exclusive healthplan, not alone retirement benefits which include their full salary
for the rest of their life.
The advocate said it would be helpful to have Congressmen have the same
benefits as "ordinary people."
Sen. Jay Rockerfellar said the current Bush bill could do more harm than good.
Zuckett called a measure allowing private insurers to directly compete with
Medicare a "poison pill" that would hurt the federal program in the long run.
He said if seniors think this will be helpful to them, they had better think twice.
The Bush measure in the House version of the bill would let private health plans
"cherry pick" the healthiest seniors, while leaving people with more expensive
health problems to be covered by traditional Medicare.
This move would likely drain the Medicare fund, and cause Medicare fees to rise
for unhealthy seniors who can least afford it.
The Republican call for direct competition between Medicare and private
insurance plans has Democrats worried. Most Democrats think seniors who stick
with traditional Medicare could face higher premiums.
With the cost of prescription drugs rising beyond affordability of average
Americans, there is a Medicare issue in the Republican bill whether to make it legal
to re-import drugs from Canada and a GOP proposal that would limit Medicare
spending if costs rise unexpectedly.
The Republican bill would charge different premiums based on where people live
and would strip some retired people of the drug coverage they have now through
their former employers, according to Sen. Rockefeller.
Kenny Purdue, secretary-treasurer of the West Virginia AFL-CIO, said the
Bush-backed bill could cause four million retirees to lose the prescription drug
benefits they have now. "This bill is nothing but a lemon," he said, that benefits
insurance and drug companies.
More than 60 percent of the Medicare dollars spent to buy more prescription drugs
would end up as additional profits for drug makers, according to study by the
Health Reform Program at Boston University.
Rockefeller voted against the Senate version of the bill, as did Sen. Robert C. Byrd,
D-W.Va. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., voted for the House version of the bill,
while Reps. Nick Rahall and Alan B. Mollohan, both D-W.Va., voted against it.
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