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Preserve, Not Privatize, Medicare! The House
and the Senate have passed flawed Medicare prescription drug bills: they
do not provide guaranteed affordable drug coverage; they fail to rein
in prescription drug expenditures; and the benefit (if available) will
be skimpy.
Background:
The
bills would rely on the participation of private insurance plans,
and the House bill would eventually
put Medicare in the hands of unreliable private companies, driving
up the premiums for those who prefer to remain in traditional
fee-for-service Medicare.
The rapid
growth in prescription drug expenditures, combined with modest
Medicare prescription drug benefit in the legislation
under consideration, create a troubling reality for Medicare beneficiaries:
if prescription drug expenditures continue to increase at the pace
that they have increased for the past five years, many Medicare beneficiaries
will find that their out-of-pocket costs in the year 2007 are actually
higher than they are today, even though they have "coverage."
Congress should
consider steps to ensure that the prescription drug marketplace
better serves all consumers - not only those fortunate enough
to have prescription
drug coverage or the means to pay the high prices charged for medicines
that can save lives and dramatically improve the quality of life.
Congress
must shape options this year and in future years that will allow
all consumers to afford the
medications
that they desperately need.
