Replies

Those who are concerned about the cost of the Medicare drug benefit are really expressing the position that the federal government shouldn't be providing any health care coverage to seniors at all. That's a fair position. But let's be honest: no responsible conservative politician or office holder is going to make that case. Medicare is a reality. The debate was lost 40 years ago. Now the question is how to institute real cost-containment measures into the program, and how to move more beneficiaries into the commercial health care coverage market. The Medicare reform bill includes steps in this direction.

The debate was lost 40 years ago.

Exactly. It is not going to go away so you get the best bill you can get to reform the program. This gives seniors a choice -- if they don't want a choice, they are free not to choose another plan. Never could figure out what seniors were so upset about having a choice since they could keep their old plan.

My Mom, who is a senior, thinks the reason seniors didn't like it is because they wanted it all for nothing.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do a detailed explanation of this program. Having dealt with Medicare for my parents, I am well aware of the costs to the government involved by the bureaucracy and paperwork, and also the way in whicih the government pays for certain things (like cataract surgery) but neglects paying for things like preventative screening.

Your articile is much appreciated. Thanks!

This is excellent. You will never hear me complaining about George Bush's Medicare Bill. As an employer, I was hit with the excessive cost for insurance coverage for employees over 50. It is really easy to see why older workers are let go -- their health premiums raise the cost of the whole pool. I know that it is illegal to let people go because of their age, but in reality it happens all of the time.

Because of the recession, I made the choice to kick my husband and myself off of our own company insurance and move to Medicare. We each purchased a Medicare supplement, so we are 100% covered. Since even a minor illness with one or two days treatment as an outpatient can cost $12,000 and up these days, this was an absolute necessity.

The only problem is that we cannot purchase drug coverage. Since both of us are on Lipitor and blood pressure meds (as are all of our friends our age) we are finding the cost expensive. The idea of ever needing any additional medicine is truly frightening as our income declines. Blood pressure meds and meds to lower cholesterol are truly helping the aging population. Use of these drugs is preventative and saves the Government money in the long run because they prevent strokes, etc, that would cost a whole lot more money to treat. It is foolish to risk the more expensive treatment by not helping with the less expensive solution.

I knew this was a good thing from what Newt stated way back in the Wall Street Journal, "Newt Gingrich: Conservatives Should Vote 'Yes' on Medicare"...

"Every conservative member of Congress should vote for this Medicare bill. It is the most important reorganization of our nation's health-care system since the original Medicare Bill of 1965 and the largest and most positive change in direction for the health system in 60 years for people over 65."

and this...

"If you are a fiscal conservative who cares about balancing the federal budget, there may be no more important vote in your career than one in support of this bill. Since health expenditures comprise almost 14% of the U.S. GDP, a shifting away from the failed bureaucratic third-party payer model and back to a market-mediated binary payer model, where the customer controls his own first health dollars, is the single most significant reform that can be made in saving the country from skyrocketing health costs and steadily increasing calls for taxpayers to finance more and more of the health-care system through higher taxes."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1025610/posts