Bill Frist Notes 12/12/03 (Emailed to me)

My email box | 12/12/03 | Bill Frist

[ibheath]

Medicare--I ask for your help...as Majority Leader and as a physician. I know the liberal bias in the media is trying to discredit the momentous achievement by President Bush and Senate Republicans in passing a Medicare bill that will benefit millions and millions of seniors and individuals with disabilities who don't have access to prescription drugs. These drugs are life-saving. It is a challenge to overcome this bias. The only way you are going to get the facts straight up, without the media filter, is straight from the source. As you know, I have been working on this for 6 years. I know the bill. So here goes. Read the 9 points below and share them with friends and your e-mail lists.

Conservative Victories in the Medicare Bill

1. Makes HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS (HSAs) -- formerly known as Medical Savings Accounts -- more attractive by eliminating restrictions that have prevented broad access to this consumer-driven health coverage option. Currently, MSAs are available only on a demonstration basis to small employers, and several design elements have made them unattractive to broader markets. The Medicare bill eliminates these onerous restrictions, and make HSAs permanent and available to all consumers.

2. Expands PRIVATE health plan CHOICE and COMPETITION in Medicare. The bill dramatically expands private health plan choices so that seniors will have access to the same types of health care options that members of Congress and federal workers enjoy through the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP).

3. Makes flexible MARKET-BASED PRIVATE DRUG COVERAGE available to seniors. Seniors who wish to stay in the traditional Medicare Fee-for-Service program will have the option to get prescription drug coverage through RISK-BEARING, competitively bid private insurance plans. These plans will negotiate price discounts directly with manufacturers and pharmacies and pass them on to seniors.

4. Focus on PREVENTION, DISEASE MANAGEMENT, PATIENT SAFETY, AND QUALITY IMPROVEMENT. Medicare payments to providers and health plans will be linked directly to quality improvements. For example, hospitals will receive full market basket payment updates only if they provide quality data to Medicare. Doctors will be given new incentives to write and submit prescriptions electronically to improve efficiency and cut down on medical errors. The Medicare program will include chronic disease management and expanded preventive care, including a new "Welcome to Medicare" physical.

5. REDUCES THE COST of Prescription Drugs. The bill includes important changes to patent law that will save consumers hundreds of millions of dollars each year by SPEEDING GENERIC DRUGS to market more quickly. It also authorizes government studies comparing the clinical effectiveness of drug therapies.

6. Introduces more rational cost-sharing, including MEANS TESTING the Medicare Part B premium. The bill means tests the Medicare Part B premium for the first time. Beginning in 2007, seniors with incomes of $80,000 and higher will pay a higher proportion of Part B premium costs on a sliding scale basis. The bill also raises Medicare's Part B deductible for the first time in over a decade and adjusts it for inflation. Cost-sharing and coinsurance levels for the new drug coverage generally are linked to prescription drug cost inflation, ensuring that seniors will continue to share responsibility for their drug costs over time.

7. Provides for direct price COMPETITION between traditional Medicare and private health plans. Once private health plans have an opportunity to become a more stable alternative to traditional Medicare, the legislation includes a six-year demonstration of direct price competition between private health plans and traditional Medicare in selected cities throughout the country, beginning in 2010.

8. Requires HONEST ACCOUNTING of Medicare's long-term liabilities. New, more transparent accounting safeguards will help put the program on a stronger financial foundation by alerting future Congresses and Presidents when the program's costs are rising faster than expected so they can take necessary actions to address the problem.

9. TARGETS prescription drug coverage to seniors with lower incomes and high catastrophic drug costs.While the legislation provides all Medicare beneficiaries with the option to enroll in private health plans offering prescription drug coverage, it provides much more generous assistance to those seniors who truly need it: those with lower incomes and high drug costs.

Thanks for helping me educate others on this matter. I hope this has been useful to your understanding as well.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

Bill Frist

To visit our website, please copy and paste this link: http://www.server22.net/resp2/ca/-1041746068520402258/co/520067/linkId/-2001354300275394234

[Cubs Fan]

I appreciate your response RD

But I have to go with avg Freeper

However good things sound in the bill, 400 billion is a huge amount. And since government's tendency is almost always to grow, especially when it comes to entitlements, I expect the pricetag to grow instead of shrink over the years.

I could be wrong, I hope so.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Let me tell you what I appreciate: the civil discourse in this thread between those of us who don't see eye to eye. I respect your pov, and I appreciate your willingness to listen to mine.

The flame wars can be entertaining but sometimes get out of hand. Thanks for making this something other than an in-your-face shouting match. :)