Families USA: "A Deep Disappointment for America's Seniors"

November 25, 2003
"The Medicare legislation will cause deep disappointment for America's seniors and people with disabilities. It provides very limited drug coverage; fails to moderate skyrocketing drug costs; and spends lavishly to push seniors into managed care plans," said Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA.

Pollack said the legislation has numerous shortcomings, including:

• "The legislation provides seniors with inadequate drug coverage that is sparse compared to the coverage available for younger populations. Seniors with annual drug costs between $2,250 and $5,100 will be required to pay all of those costs out of their own pockets - a so-called "doughnut hole" that is more like a coverage chasm."
• "Even the best feature of the legislation - the help to low-income seniors, which allows them to purchase drugs for only $1 to $5 per prescription - is flawed. Due to a miserly assets test, 2.8 million very low-income seniors will be disqualified from such needed relief.
• "The legislation genuflects to the pharmaceutical lobby by thwarting any meaningful effort to contain skyrocketing drug costs. The legislation prohibits Medicare from using its bargaining power to negotiate lower prices. It also stops seniors from re-importing much cheaper drugs from Canada.
• "The legislation provides a boondoggle to the managed care industry. In an effort to push seniors into HMOs, PPOs, and other managed care plans, the legislation showers private insurance plans with lavish and wasteful subsidies.

"The more seniors learn about this legislation, the less they will feel that it reflects their interests and needs," Pollack said.

Families USA is a national health care organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.