New Prescription-Drug Plan Could Drive Up Prices for the Elderly

This legislation, passed in different versions in both House and Senate, must now be reconciled in a conference committee. It aims to provide relief to seniors who currently bear the full cost of the prescription drugs they purchase.

But critics suspect it is meant to make matters worse, confusing and distorting the existing Medicare program until the right wing can abolish it altogether. Passed in 1965, Medicare is one of the very few liberal entitlement programs left.

The legislation is "a farce," said Dr. Quentin Young of Physicians for a National Health Program. "The estimates are that costs for seniors over the next 10 years will total 1.8 trillion. The most generous estimate of the 'benefit' is 400 billion. So it doesn't cover even 25 percent of the total cost."