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-- Programs and Services -- Contact InformationEditor’s note:
Senator Kerry’s article appeared in the February, 2004 issue of Berkshire Senior
Government Thoughts
Winners and losers in Medicare bill
By U.S. Senator John Kerry (Dem.)
I fought alongside Senator Edward Kennedy (Dem.) to stop the new Medicare bill from becoming law, because I believe we need a real world, affordable Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors. A plan that won’t force seniors into an HMO, that won’t undermine the coverage seniors get today, that’ll be run by Medicare instead of an insurance company in search of a buck, and that’ll send a real benefit to every senior. That’s a real deal for America’s seniors.
Instead, seniors are now looking at a prescription drug benefit that is not affordable, is not comprehensive, and is not guaranteed. There are holes in coverage and complex rules. The coverage gaps remain too high and seniors are still charged premiums even after their benefits shut down in the so-called “donut hole” in coverage. Seniors are not assured a government fallback plan with a set national premium.
At least 3 million seniors are projected to lose their gold-plated retiree prescription drug plan and be forced into a lesser benefit under the new Medicare plan. The new law fails to adequately fix protections for low-income seniors and people with disabilities that currently rely on both Medicare and Medicaid for their coverage, causing as many as 6 million to pay more money for fewer benefits.
Seniors who think this bill is only designed to give them new benefits will be shocked to find out that this legislation actually raises $25 billion in new revenue directly out of their pockets by increasing the costs for traditional Medicare coverage of doctor and hospital visits.
So if seniors in Berkshire County and across America are the losers under the new Medicare bill, who were the winners? The answer is: insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, lobbyists, and special interests of every stripe, who get a $139 billion bonanza of windfall profits.
And the stock market confirms it. Stock prices for health insurers have increased an average of 30 percent this year as odds for passage of the Medicare bill improved. In the month before Congress voted on the bill, stock prices for a whole host of pharmaceutical companies shot up more than 10 percent. My experience tells me that if it’s good for these guys, seniors better watch their wallets, because they’re about to get socked.
This bill is really about President Bush passing the buck on prescription drug coverage and passing the bucks from seniors to the pharmaceutical industry. America’s seniors deserve better than what this bill gives them, and I intend to keep fighting to make sure they do.
I will work to change the benefit so that it: rewards employers who offer retiree health benefits rather than undermining them; does not push seniors into HMOs; includes real cost containment measures; and improves protections for low-income Americans.