Posted on 06/29/2002 1:37:28 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
The House narrowly passed a White House-backed Medicare prescription drug plan early Friday.
The vote in the Republican-controlled House was 221-208 after Republican leaders scrambled all week to shore up support from some reluctant party members who disliked one aspect or another of the complex $350 billion, 10-year plan.
Eight Democrats and eight Republicans crossed party lines.
Republicans had accused Democrats of wanting a budget-busting plan that would hurt Medicare in the long run. "We're putting people before politics by lowering the costs of prescription drugs now and guaranteeing an affordable benefit under Medicare," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
Democrats, including Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, warn of a coverage gap that will cost seniors too much money.
"This Republican bill listens not to the people of this country, but to the pharmaceutical companies and to the insurance companies," the Missouri Democrat said on the House floor.
"This historic bill helps all Americans cope with the rising cost of health care, especially senior citizens who shouldn't have to choose between putting food on the table and paying for life-saving drugs," said Hastert, an Illinois Republican.
The prescription drug measure now moves on to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it is expected to die, reports CBS News Correspondent Peter Maer.
The vote gives Republicans a victory to tout as they head home for a weeklong July 4 recess.
It capped a marathon session that lasted into the early hours of Friday morning. It provided an emotional debate with both sides accusing the other of neglecting the needs of the nation's 39 million seniors on Medicare.
In a bit of theatrics, one Democratic woman after another rose to proclaim their opposition to "this sham bill that is particularly harmful to senior women." Some varied their remarks to say it hurt their mothers, their grandmothers, their sisters, or, as one put it in Spanish, little old ladies.
Barred from offering their own $800 billion-plus alternative, Democrats labeled the Republican bill a phony that relied too heavily on the whims of private insurers.
"It fails," said Gephardt. "It is a fraud...a piece of trickery."
Both sides agreed on the need for adding a prescription drug component to Medicare, which was created in 1965 when medicines had less of a role in controlling the chronic illnesses of the elderly. But the two sides disagreed on the cost of the benefit, and the role of private insurers.
The Republican bill would rely on government-subsidized private insurers to offer the drug benefit. The benefit would cost about $33 a month, and have a $250 deductible. The poor would be subsidized.
Under the Republican plan, the government would pay 80 percent of the cost of the drugs from $250 to $1000, and 50 percent up to $2,000. Then there would be a coverage gap until the beneficiary hits a $3,700 "stop-loss" level, at which point the health plan picks up the whole tab.
"It is a good plan," said Ohio Republican Rep. Rob Portman. "It's affordable, it's voluntary, it preserves the right to choose."
The Senate, where Democrats have a slim majority, plans to take up Medicare reform next month, but most health care advocates believe a compromise with the House will remain elusive.
"It's an uphill struggle — and I mean Himalayas, not Catskills," said Ron Pollack, executive director of the Families USA health advocacy group.
If Congress stalemates, the issue again will be a theme in congressional campaigns, especially because senior citizens make up a big share of voters in non-presidential election years.
About $320 billion of the Republican plan would go to drug coverage and about $30 billion to raise payments to hospitals, HMOs, doctors and others who treat Medicare patients, and to add some new preventive health care benefits.
While most Republicans back the bill, the leadership ran into obstacles over a host of secondary issues, such as the impact on small pharmacies or cheap import of drugs from foreign countries. A handful of conservatives also said they would reject the bill because it was too expensive. But at the end of the day, most returned to the party fold.
Although most seniors — estimates range from two-thirds to three-fourths — have some kind of drug insurance coverage, the numbers are dropping and retiree coverage tends to be spotty. The expense of drug bills becomes a strain on the millions of elderly people living on fixed and limited incomes.
The plan the Democrats wanted to offer has a $25 monthly premium, a $100 deductible and a $2,000 stop-loss level. Republicans call it a "pie-in-the-sky" budget boondoggle.
Medicare is the federal health care insurance program for people aged 65 and over, and for the disabled.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.