New Democrats offer Medicare plan

SFChron -- 80% drug subsidy for poorest and for those with high costs

Howard J. Bedlin, vice president of the National Council on the Aging, a research and advocacy group, said, "This is not the ultimate solution, but it would be a good start, a potential compromise, that could attract bipartisan support if we find there's not enough money to provide more comprehensive drug benefits."

Under the proposal, Medicare would pay 80 percent of the cost of each prescription after a beneficiary had incurred $4,000 of drug costs in a year.

The $4,000 deductible would not apply to elderly people with incomes less than twice the poverty level. For the poorest among these, the federal government would pay at least 80 percent of their drug costs, and the federal share would decline as a person's income rose toward 200 percent of poverty. The poverty level for a couple is $12,120 this year.