The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, concerning the President's State of the Union message on health care:
"The President's speech offered laudable goals, but that rhetoric is contradicted by his actions.
"Similar to recent reports, it appears that the President plans to offer a prescription drug benefit only to those seniors willing to abandon traditional Medicare and enroll in private health plans. Moreover, the President offered no new specifics about how he intends to expand health coverage to the uninsured, and he did not mention any help that might be provided to states that are considering cuts in Medicaid programs that will cause more people to become uninsured.
"Although the President promised that seniors who like the current Medicare system should be able to keep their coverage just the way it is, his prescription drug proposal will coerce seniors into private health plans that rob seniors of the most important choice they have today - the right to choose their own doctors.
"Today, many seniors need to choose between paying for food or paying for the drugs they need. Under the President's proposal, seniors will be forced to choose between the drug coverage they so desperately need and the doctors they have come to depend on.
"Private health plans participating in Medicare have a poor record serving seniors. They are unavailable in many rural communities, and they frequently leave communities that are deemed unprofitable. The private plans that continue to enroll seniors are, with each passing year, significantly increasing seniors' costs and reducing the services offered.
"The President's laudable rhetoric about health coverage for everyone is unmatched by his lackluster efforts.
"In the past two years, the President has proposed tax credits for low-wage individuals and families that would do little to make health coverage affordable. His proposal is like throwing a 10-foot rope to a person in a 40-foot hole. It simply provides no real relief.
"Even worse, the President has opposed aid to states that would enable them to sustain their Medicaid programs. As a result, the President's actions will result in major cutbacks in Medicaid - which, in turn, will cause millions of American families to join the ranks of the uninsured.
"We urge the President to walk the walk, not simply talk the talk.
