Seniors lose, drug companies win

Millions of turkeys are consumed on Thanksgiving. But this year’s biggest turkey is President Bush’s newly enacted Medicare bill. It’s a bonanza for drug companies and a poison pill for seniors.

To know how bad it is, just look at who’s for it and who’s against it. The Wall Street Journal is against it. So are House and Senate Democratic Leaders Nancy Pelosi and Tom Daschle. And the pharmaceutical companies are for it. That says it all. If the drug companies are for it, it must be bad for consumers. And it is.

Here’s one reason. Where can Americans find the cheapest prescription drugs today? Canada. According to Results for America, an American consumer who takes the pain-relief drug Vioxx once a day for osteoarthritis would spend $524 less at Canadian prices. A person taking Lipator, for high cholesterol, would save $339 per year.

Prices are so low that hundreds of Americans drive across the border every day just to refill their prescriptions, and governors of several states are negotiating to purchase all drugs for state health plans from Canada. Of course, that drives drug companies crazy. That’s why they’re so happy with Bush’s Medicare bill. It prohibits importing drugs from Canada – in order to keep prices sky high in the United States.

Here’s another reason. Other than Rush Limbaugh or Sam’s Club, who’s the biggest buyer of drugs today? The federal government. It’s about to become even more so, once prescription-drug coverage is added to Medicare. That gives the government tremendous bargaining leverage. Drug companies don’t want that. So the Bush Medicare bill prohibits the federal government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices – in order to keep prices sky high in the United States.

Are you getting the feeling that drug-company lobbyists wrote this legislation? You’re right. Here’s another example: The bill contains $12 billion in subsidies to private health plans, which are now allowed to compete with Medicare. In other words, over and above the higher fees they already charge, we will soon pay companies to provide and charge seniors for a service the government today provides for free.

What a rip-off. Dick Gephardt summed it up best: “This is a continuation of this administration and the Republican Party selling out government to special interests.”

There are three other ways the Bush Medicare plan hurts seniors.

Starting in 2006, it forces millions of seniors out of Medicare and into HMOs, where private insurance companies will determine who is covered, what is covered, and what prescription drugs are provided at what price.

The bill includes incentives for employers to drop health-care coverage they now provide to retirees. According to the Congressional Budget Office, that will cause 2.7 million seniors to accept less coverage, and pay more.

It also requires many seniors to go without drug coverage for several months. Under the plan, once beneficiaries spend $2,200 for drugs, they would receive no assistance until they had spent a total of $5,000. That’s a $2,800 coverage gap seniors would simply have to eat – a big, and often unaffordable, expense for those on fixed income.

The Bush Medicare plan is a false promise. It looks good in the short term, delivering long-awaited prescription-drug coverage as part of Medicare. But in the long term, it will mean higher premiums and less coverage – it will force millions of seniors out of Medicare and into HMOs, and maybe dismantle Medicare entirely.

Now, here’s the worst part. The bill won’t take effect until 2006. Which means George Bush will campaign in 2004 as the man who delivered prescription-drug coverage to seniors – but seniors won’t experience sticker shock, and realize how much they’ve been betrayed, until two years later.

Bush will get all the political pleasure out of so-called Medicare reform, and none of the pain. Only America’s seniors will experience the pain, once the higher bills start rolling in.

And whom do we have to thank for this legislative fiasco? AARP. Most people don’t know it, but this organization is not only a lobby for Americans 50 and older, it is also a big insurance company, which stands to make huge profits under Bush’s Medicare legislation.

Instead of fulfilling its mission to fight for seniors, AARP went into the tank for George Bush. Think about that, senior Americans, next time they ding you for dues. My advice is: Burn your membership card instead.

Happy Thanksgiving!