Medicare and Health Plans Roundup

More Problems in a Medicare Solution

The downside for us and many others is that once Medicare begins covering prescriptions, a sizable number of employers are likely to drop their own retiree drug plans. If that happens, an estimated 4 million people would have to move to the Medicare drug plan, which is less generous and more complicated than most employer plans.

Barbara B. Kennelly, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told me that on her trips around the country she found many who were "very disappointed" with the proposed benefits. "It is far less than they ever expected," she said.

The disappointment, I expect, would be felt most keenly by retirees who had been satisfied with their employer's drug plans. They will say: "I liked what I had. Why did you have to mess it up?"

New Medicare Plan Adds Boost To Rural Areas

Key lawmakers in both parties, along with President Bush, support higher rural payments by Medicare. The idea has caught on even as Congress is having difficulty finding the means to subsidize drug coverage to the level that many elderly people want.

The payments are an example of the many agendas woven into the Medicare legislation, the most significant domestic issue remaining before Congress this year. Lawmakers and White House officials say their main goals are to create drug coverage and a larger role for private health plans in the insurance programs for Americans 65 and older. But groups of people with specific diseases and segments of the health care industry also would benefit from the legislations' many other components.

"I'm a skeptic" about the need for Congress to increase payments, said Christopher Hogan, a private consultant in Northern Virginia who researches Medicare. "The problems of Medicare in rural America are primarily the problems of rural America, not the problems of Medicare."

Poll Finds Backing For Drug Reimports
Bush Rated Low on Health Issues

As their drug bills soar, a solid majority of Americans say they want Congress to legalize the importation of lower-priced medicines from Canada and Europe, and would be willing to pay higher taxes to provide prescription drug benefits to senior citizens, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Democrats Push GOP for Greater Inclusion

Senate Democrats, complaining that Republicans are trying to squeeze them out of final negotiations on energy, Medicare and other bills, are threatening hardball tactics aimed at forcing the majority party to expand Democrats' role in House-Senate conferences.

The conference on legislation to revamp Medicare and include a prescription drug benefit presented Democrats with a different challenge.

Thomas, who chairs the conference, agreed to the participation of two Senate Democrats, Baucus and John Breaux (La.), a committee member who is sympathetic to some GOP priorities. But Thomas excluded Daschle and Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), who have been more critical of key GOP positions. The Senate had designated Daschle and Rockefeller as conferees. "They said, 'You didn't vote for the bill, so why should we work with you?' " Rockefeller said.

Daschle said Thomas told Democrats the conference sessions would be canceled if they showed up.

Exclusion of Daschle, the top Democratic leader and a senior member of the finance panel, has been especially galling to fellow Democrats. But some Republicans are also troubled. Grassley said he would "feel more comfortable" if Democrats were more involved. As for excluding Daschle, he said, "I don't feel comfortable doing that."

EL - Is this just one more time Daschle threatens to play hardball and doesn't follow through? We may need a revolution like the Republicans had with the most partisan Democrats in the top positions as the current Dem leaders keep getting rolled over.