HOUSE REPUBLICANS PRESCRIPTION DRUG PROPOSAL PROVIDES LITTLE RELIEF TO SENIORS OR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, released the following statement today with regards to H.R. 2473, the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003:

"The Medicare Prescription Drug Legislation introduced by House Republicans will do little to ease the pain of seniors and people with disabilities struggling to afford their prescription drug medications, and, in one important respect, will be a big step backwards. Two main flaws in this piece of legislation are illustrative.

First, the House Republican prescription drug proposal fails to provide meaningful help to the millions of low-income seniors and people with disabilities who have the most difficulty affording their prescription drugs by providing a meager benefit and leaving a "donut-hole" or large gap in coverage, even for those with the lowest income.

Second, the House Republican prescription drug proposal will ultimately force the seniors and people with disabilities who depend on traditional Medicare into an unreliable source of coverage, the private market. The so-called "competitive bidding" system in the bill would create a very unfair competition among private plans—which "cherry-pick" and enroll the youngest, healthiest seniors—versus the traditional Medicare program that serves sick and healthy alike. As a result, the costs of the traditional Medicare program will rise, and seniors will be forced out of traditional Medicare.

It makes little sense to push seniors into private plans—especially since they are unreliable, do a poor job of serving people in rural communities, and cause beneficiaries to lose their choice of doctors. In this respect, the House bill is a big step backwards."

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

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