QUICK NEWS 8:11 a. m., Saturday, April 17, 2004
Washington Business and Technology Institute (WBTI)
http://communitylink.reviewjournal.com/lvrj/wbtiA presentation about the new Medicare prescription drug benefit
By PAI of WBTI
The following is the most recent community news about the Medicare here in Las Vegas post by us through the courtesy of 'Nevada & the West,' of "Las Vegas Review-Journal,":
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Copyright @ Las Vegas Review-Journal
FAMILIES USA EVENT: Medicare act criticized
New prescription drug benefit won't save seniors money, Democrats tell crowd
By JULIET V. CASEY
REVIEW-JOURNAL
turned into a partisan event to bash Republicans on Friday.
Nevada Democrats U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley told a roomful of seniors at the Coleman Senior Center on East Lake Mead Boulevard that the program pushed by Republicans isn't reliable, won't save them much money, and is intended to help drug companies instead of the elderly.
Their speeches were the highlight of the Families USA Medicare Road Show. The group, a liberal consumer advocacy nonprofit organization, is touring the country and presenting a video that includes testimonials from senior citizens lamenting the ineffectiveness of the new prescription drug benefit. The presentation is intended to explain details of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003.
Republicans later Friday argued that partisan Democrats for decades have refused to add a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program. They said the added benefit might not be perfect, but it is more than seniors have ever been offered.
Reid accused Republicans and the Bush administration of working to dismantle Medicare through programs like the prescription drug benefit.
"We have people who want to destroy Medicare, passing Medicare to the private sector so HMOs (health maintenance organizations) control what's going on," he said.
Reid promised to introduce legislation to allow the government to negotiate directly with drug companies for lower drug prices, a point he said is prohibited by the current law. He also plans to introduce a bill to ensure any savings generated from the program go to Medicare recipients.
The program is expected to cost more than $500 billion over the next 10 years.
The debate over changes in Medicare programs has been raging in Washington, D.C., for months.
"It's an election year and it's partisan politics getting in the way of providing help to seniors," said Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev.
Porter, who voted for the bill, acknowledged that, as with any new program, there will be room for improvement. "But it's an outstanding start."
The Families USA program focused on the areas needing improvement, such as the "doughnut hole," a gap in coverage that seniors will experience once they hit the $2,250 coverage limit. From that point, seniors are responsible for all their prescription drug costs until they have spent up to $5,100 of their own money and qualify for catastrophic coverage, which will pay 95 percent of prescription drug costs.
"This is a sham of a piece of legislation, voted on and passed in order to perpetrate a fraud on older Americans, dare I say all Americans," Berkley said. "They can give you a discount card or whatever they want, but there will be no relief for senior citizens."
Several seniors at the event said they participate in Clark County health management organizations, such as Senior Dimensions, and that the new benefit wouldn't offer them anything they don't already get from their current program.
But Ola Watkins, 82, said she had "mixed feelings" about the new benefit.
"I hope I don't have to rely on it," she said at the end of the presentation.
Ruth Mills, 71, said the presentation "told the truth about the way it is."
"We don't need to be messing around with a doughnut hole," she said. "Anybody with a brain would be appalled by this."
Porter, in a telephone interview, said the Congressional Budget Office calculated that 70 percent of seniors who sign up for the voluntary drug coverage program will not be affected by the gap.
"At least we're helping 70 percent more than were being helped before," he said. "We can work to fix the program for the other 30 percent."*3
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References
*1. PAI of WBTI is the initial of Public Administration Institution (PAI) of Washington Business and Technology Institute (WBTI).
*2. Casey, Juliet V.. 'FAMILIES USA EVENT: Medicare act criticized,' " Nevada & The West; Copyright @ Las Vegas Review-Journal," (April 17, 2004), Las Vegas, Nevada: Las Vegas Review-Journal.
*3. Ibid.
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