Medicare backlash for AARP; Booed by Own Members

[Guest guest]

> Medicare backlash for AARP

>

>

> Democrats criticize organization's backing of GOP drug proposal

>

> By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 11/19/2003

>

> BEDFORD, N.H. -- The AARP, which has decided to back a $400 billion plan

> for Medicare to provide prescription drug coverage to seniors, yesterday

> found itself being booed by its own members and criticized by several

> Democratic presidential contenders at a candidates forum sponsored by the

> retiree group.

>

> The boos emanated from a sizable portion of an audience that numbered

> several hundred. They bolstered denunciations from retired Army general

> Wesley K. Clark of Arkansas, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, and

> Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts. Each accused the group of yielding

> to GOP pressure and accepting what they called imperfect legislation, a

> Republican-drafted plan the AARP endorsed on Monday.

>

> Clark said the plan " doesn't curb spiraling costs " and is " a giveway to

HMOs. "

>

> Kerry bluntly told the AARP it is making a mistake with plans to spend $7

> million for ads backing the legislation, which he said was written by

> lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry and health maintenance

organizations.

>

> " What's wrong in America today is that we have a president who's in the

> pocket of the powerful interests, and we deserve a president who's going

to

> stand up and give Americans a real deal, not a raw deal, " Kerry declared.

>

> Diana Holtshouser and Beverly Archambault, both 71, expressed

> disappointment in an organization they joined two decades ago. " I thought

> AARP was on our side, " Archambault told the Washington Post. " I don't like

> them spending so much money trying to influence Congress on this. "

>

> The three other candidates at the forum, Representative Richard A.

Gephardt

> of Missouri, former Vermont governor Howard Dean, and Senator Joseph I.

> Lieberman of Connecticut, avoided direct criticism of the AARP, formerly

> the American Association of Retired Persons.

>

> Gephardt did condemn the legislation, saying, " It's a Republican bill,

> therefore it's a bad bill. "

>

> Lieberman refused to take an immediate position. " I'm not going to give a

> knee-jerk, reflex reaction and say `no way,' " he said. The senator said

he

> was working with a colleague, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of

> Massachusetts, to change the legislation, adding, " When you're president,

> you rarely get big decisions that are all good or all evil. You've got to

> decide what's best. "

>

> Dean said " $400 billion is enough " to provide a drug benefit, but added

> that Medicare needs an overhaul to deliver service better. Brushing back

> Gephardt for saying Dean previously supported Medicare spending cuts, the

> physician pulled out a stethoscope and told the audience: " I have no

> intention of cutting their health care benefits. . . . I think this bill

is

> a disaster. I think to do something is not always the right thing to do if

> the something is worse than doing nothing. "

>

> Kerry, who is trailing fellow New Englander Dean in polls of likely New

> Hampshire primary voters, came to Gephardt's defense, replying: " Holding

up

> a stethoscope and saying you have no intention of cutting people doesn't,

> in fact, mean that you have not, and as governor, the governor, in fact,

> raised prescription prices and proposed cutting people on several

> occasions, three to be precise, from prescription drugs. " The senator's

> campaign distributed copies of Vermont news stories showing Dean had

> proposed cutting a drug benefit under Medicaid for some of the state's

> moderate-income seniors in 1993, 1996, and 2002.

>

> Dean and Gephardt clashed at another point in the debate, after all the

> candidates were asked how they could implement their plans if the

> Republican Party continues to control both the House and Senate after the

> 2004 general election.

>

> Gephardt, the former House Democratic leader, said his election would be

> part of a Democratic tide that would return control of Congress to his own

> party.

>

> Dean replied: " In all due respect to Dick Gephardt, who's a very decent

> person, and who I worked for for president in 1988, you had four terms [as

> House minority leader] to bring in a Democratic majority and you didn't do

it. "

>

> The former governor said he would be successful because a fundamental

> underpinning of his campaign is a plan to spark grassroots political

> activity by 2 million Americans, which he said would be enough foot

> soldiers to allow a Democratic sweep not only of the presidency, but also

> the House and Senate.

>

> Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson.

>

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/11/19/medicare_backlash_for_

aarp/

>