Medicare Deadline Passes - Still No Deal

[Guest guest]

MEDICARE DEADLINE PASSES WITHOUT ACTION

Congress finds itself frozen in the headlights of what it fears may be a

speeding subway train as it tries to flee from a politically-inspired gambit to

underwrite prescription drugs for seniors. What looked like a quick trip on the

Medicare express has turned into a plodding trek on the local with extended

stops in some very scary neighborhoods. The once crafty navigators of

Washington's halls of power find themselves standing flat-footed on the tracks

trying not to grasp the third rail for support as the bright light in the tunnel

draws nearer.

 

So bizarre has the prescription drug battle become that it's turned into a

states' rights issue. States are defying the federal government and demanding

that they be able to buy drugs in Canada for distribution to state employees and

those covered by Medicaid, which is financed largely with state funds. Illinois

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has set up a Web site to build a fire under the Food and

Drug Administration, which has been struggling to contain the reimportation

brush fire that is sweeping the grassroots.

 

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news03/medicare_20031020.html

Medicare Deadline Passes - Still No DealCongress Vows to Pass Medicare " Reform "

 

October 20, 2003

October 17 passed without House and Senate negotiators agreeing on a revised

Medicare drug bill but conferees say they have narrowed their differences on

many issues, including the importation of drugs from Canada.

 

The deadline was set by GOP leaders last month at the urging of the White House.

President Bush has said he wants to sign legislation this fall that provides a

prescription benefit to seniors. However, the measures now under consideration

have come under heavy fire from senior advocates.

 

The latest speculation from the Hill is that chances of reaching a compromise

are greater now than they were last month, but one Senator said that was only

because " nothing definite has been decided. "

 

Besides drug importation, the conferees have agreed in principle that older

Americans with higher incomes should pay higher Medicare premiuims and that

those being cared for at home should pay a small copay.

Drug Reimportation

There's little doubt that whatever finally emerges from the committee will

permit some form of drug reimportation, allowing Americans to reimport U.S.-made

drugs from Canada and possibly other countries where drug prices are lower.

 

Recent polls demonstrate growing public support for reimportation. A Wall Street

Journal Online/Harris Interactive poll found:

The number of people who have bought prescription drugs from Canada is up

from 5 percent to 7 percent since last November.

The number of people who say they would shop for prescription drugs abroad if

they could rose from 40 percent to 48 percent during the same period.

77 percent of people polled say it is " unreasonable " for drug companies to

stop Canadian pharmacies from selling prescription medication over the Internet.

 

 

 

A poll by USA Today/CNN/Gallup finds that about one million people in the United

States will spend about $800 million on reimported prescription medications from

Canada in 2003. The survey also found that 71 percent of those polled support

legalizing the reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada.

 

Lawmakers from both parties have been inundated with demands from constituents,

with many saying they have taken more criticism on the reimportation than on any

other topic in their careers.

 

Organizations demanding some form of drug reimportation include:

 

Medicare Rights Center

" Many Americans are finding they don't need to forgo their costly, life-saving

prescription drugs, if they buy them from Canada, where there is a 40 percent

savings. It's time for Congress to legalize what has become a solution for

countless people with Medicare and the uninsured, who are desperate to get the

medications their doctors prescribe but can't afford them because they have no

drug coverage, " said Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center.

" Given that the Congressional Research Service found that Canada's regulation of

drugs mirrors that of the U.S., the next question is: who is Congress trying to

protect, drug companies or Americans? " Hayes asked.

State of Illinois

The governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, has set up a Web site to put heat on

the FDA.

 

Blagojevich proposes importing drugs to save money for the state government as

well as Illinois citizens.

 

The Illinois budget deficit is estimated at $5 billion, according to the Web

site of the Illinois CPA Society. Meanwhile, Illinois government spends $1.8

billion a year on prescription drugs for its healthcare programs and $340

million on state employees alone, according to the governor's office.

 

PhillySeniors & others

An email making the rounds of various senior groups urges continued grassroots

pressure on Congress. " While reimportation is important in the short term to get

cheaper drugs it is important for us all to keep pointing out that the reason

the Rx drugs are cheaper in Canada is that they have price controls. "

 

" The solution here is not reimportation but price controls, " the message

concludes.

Means Testing

Conservatives in the House have insisted that seniors with high incomes should

pay a higher premium for Medicare Part B, which covers doctor visits and other

outpatient care. They are, however, far from agreement on the details, such as

how income or net worth would be verified and how the extra premiums would be

collected.

 

Some critics have said that means-testing Medicare would cost more in

administration fees than it would produce in premiums.

 

Liberals and labor groups, like the AFL-CIO affiliate Alliance for Retired

Americans, are opposed to it on principle.

 

" The goal of the conferees is obvious, " said George J. Kourpias, the group's

president. " They are seeking to invoke the age-old ploy of 'divide and

conquer.' "

 

Kourpias says efforts to pit higher-income seniors against lower-income seniors

by charging more and offering less to affluent beneficiaries is nothing new.

 

" It has surfaced in every Medicare discussion over the past two decades, " he

said. " When they tried this approach, in 1988, in the so-called 'catastrophic'

bill, it was so unpopular that Congress was forced to repeal the bill the next

year before it even went into effect. "

 

Edward F. Coyle, the ARA's executive director, warns that a " major stumbling

block to such a plan is how to define 'wealthy.' Some negotiators want to set

the income threshold at $100,000 while others would set the level at $60,000 but

the day could come when Congress decides that an income of $25,000 makes a

person wealthy. "

Home Health Care Copay

The negotiators are also said to be " seriously considering " adding a copayment

for home health care services of between $40 and $45 for each 60-day period.

 

" It would seem that the conferees have forgotten that the reason the copayment

was eliminated in 1972 was to make it possible for more older and disabled

persons to be cared for at home rather than be forced to enter a hospital or

nursing home, " noted Kourpias of the Alliance for Retired Americans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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