A Bitter Pill

A bitter pill
Cynthia Tucker - Universal Press Syndicate

12.02.03 - Certain myths live large in American politics. Black voters are
liberal. "Christian" means evangelical or biblical literalist. The elderly
struggle to pay for their prescriptions. All are demonstrably false;
nevertheless, all are so deeply rooted in our political culture that they
can't be pulled up or killed off. But it's the last one that will bankrupt
your grandchildren.

Even though statistics show that American children, as a group, are poorer
than the elderly (who receive Social Security and Medicare), there has been
no long-running and noisy campaign to pay for their prescriptions. Instead,
the AARP has managed one of the best public relations scams since the
leisure suit, persuading Democrats and, more recently, Republicans that a
prescription drug plan should be added to Medicare. It's a complex piece of
legislation chock full of giveaways to industry, mostly drug companies.

And it's going to cost plenty. Forget the $400 billion over 10 years that
you've been hearing about. Focus on the costs after that. By the time the
drug companies finish jacking up their prices, the price tag will be well
into the trillions.

By some estimates, the prescription drug benefit will cost $1.5 trillion
between 2014 and 2023. The Medicare hospital benefit is already expected to
run out of money by 2026, after the baby boom generation has retired.

This bill is so wrongheaded that it's hard to know where to begin. Lobbied
heavily by pharmaceutical companies, which make substantial contributions to
political campaigns, the Republican leadership decided not to allow Medicare
to use its buying power to negotiate lower prices with drug companies. That
borders on insane. It's something that huge private insurers and companies
(like Sam's Club) do every day. But Medicare won't be allowed to do it,
virtually guaranteeing that prices for prescriptions drugs -- already
high -- will soar into the stratosphere.

Here's another bit of insanity: The bill pays private insurance companies to
take elderly patients. You know how one of the tenets of conservative
philosophy is that private companies can always deliver a product better and
cheaper? So why does the Medicare bill offer billions in subsidies to
private insurers to induce them into the market? That's not competition;
that's corporate welfare.

Worse yet, the next generation will be stuck with a massive bill for an
entitlement that meets no critical need. Many retirees can afford not only
their prescriptions but also tours to New England to see the autumn leaves
and cruises to Alaska. (Sorry, Mom.) According to recent estimates, 68
percent of seniors spend less than $1,000 per year in out-of-pocket costs
for prescriptions. Fifteen percent spend between $1,000 and $2,000.

The other 17 percent have soaring out-of-pocket expenses and may genuinely
need help, if they are poor. Congress should have set aside funds to help
that small group only. Instead, middle-class retirees get a prescription
drug benefit, and the poor and sickly, oddly, may be worse off.

A small group of low-income elderly and disabled patients qualify for both
Medicare and Medicaid, enabling them to get their prescriptions either free
or at very low cost. Under the new bill, many of them will end up paying
more for their prescription drugs, according to the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities.

Meanwhile, some 43 million Americans shy of retirement age -- many with
young children -- have no health-care coverage at all, not for office visits
or prescription drugs or preventive care such as mammograms. From
middle-class professionals who cannot find full-time employment to poor
workers shoved from Medicaid rolls by state budget cutbacks, the crisis of
the uninsured is getting worse.

So is the nation's debt. Grandpa's prescription bills will be paid by his
grandchildren.


(c) 2003, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


URL: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=16079





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