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Dear list members, I received the message below from the FamiliesUSA mailing list, analyzing Pres. Bush's prescription drug proposal and thought some might be interested. First, I'm including some of my notes on this issue from the conference - for background information. We can expect many bills will bbe introduced on prescription drug coverage during this session of Congress, and it will be important to understand exactly what each is proposing. MY NOTES: - Health Care is at the top of the public agenda. Medicare prescription coverage will probably be the first issue addressed by Congress - Health Insurance -- who are the Uninsured? Mostly working people who either lost their jobs, and their medical coverage with it or who work for employers who don't provide it. - Prescription drug coverage - the issues -need to improve coverage - about 12 million seniors on Medicare don't have any drug coverage. - Younger disabled people who qualify for Medicaid receive some type of drug coverage depending on the state they live in. Disabled who are not on Medicaid don't have coverage. (unless they are covered thru private health insurance.) Suggested remedies - Extend coverage to single disabled adults, not receiving Medicaid. - Understand the needs of the disabled. Simplify Medicaid eligibility. - With the current surplus the time is ripe to expand coverage. -Not all Medicare prescription proposals are the same. Basically three different approaches ( and many plans that fall somewhere in between these 3 are being proposed:) 1.Pres. Bush proposed block grants to States to provide coverage as they see fit. Not much enthusiasm in Congress for this. (SEE Families USA analysis below.) 2. Provide Medicare drug coverage by contracting with private insurance companies. 3. Provide prescription coverage as a part of universal health insurance coverage. 4. A combination approach to expand coverage incrementally by offering: - Medicare prescription coverage for all Medicare beneficiaries. - Then expand Medicaid coverage to parents of eligible children. - Then expand to disabled young people, not currently eligible for Medicaid. AND: - Allow buy-ins by those who don't qualify for Medicaid or Medicare. - Offer employers tax breaks if they provide insurance for their workers. ANALYSIS OF BUSH'S PLAN --------- Forwarded message ---------- From: [log in to unmask] Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 15:53:23 -0500 (EST) Families USA released this statement in response to President Bush's "Immediate Helping Hand" prescription drug proposal. Families USA analysis shows administration's prescription drug proposal won't reach many of the people it is intended to help President Bush's "Immediate Helping Hand" proposal to provide prescription drug coverage for America's seniors offers little in the way of real help to seniors struggling with soaring prescription drug costs, according to an analysis by Families USA, the national organization for health care consumers. "While we are heartened that President Bush is willing to extend prescription drug coverage for all seniors, the structure of his interim proposal will make it harder, not easier, to reach that goal," said Ron Pollack, Families USA's executive director. "The "Immediate Helping Hand" proposal creates a time-limited structure that would be torn down after four years. "Additionally, based on past experience, it is unlikely this interim proposal will reach even the limited target population of low-income seniors." Pollack said Families USA's analysis of the "Immediate Helping Hand" proposal shows several fundamental flaws that either work against the goal of prescription drug coverage for all Medicare beneficiaries or cause the plan to fail to reach even the low-income people who are supposed to receive its benefits: "Immediate Helping Hand" creates a block grant - $48 billion over four years -- so the states can establish or augment their own pharmaceutical assistance programs. But at the end of that four years, those programs would be torn down. "Immediate Helping Hand" does not create a foundation for building toward the goal of universal coverage. "Immediate Helping Hand's" block grant will enable states that already have drug programs to move money they are spending for prescription drug coverage to other purposes and replace it with the new block grant. Instead of increasing drug coverage, reaching more people, the federal government will be providing new money without providing new assistance. "Immediate Helping Hand" will not be "immediate." Only about half the states currently have prescription drug assistance programs in place. It will take months, even years, to get programs up and running in the rest of the states. Experience has demonstrated that existing state pharmaceutical programs reach less than one-fourth of the eligible seniors they are supposed to help. They do worse than other means-tested programs in reaching poor seniors. "Immediate Helping Hand" does not guarantee a meaningful drug benefit, but instead provides different coverage to different people depending on where they live. Today, some state programs limit drug coverage to certain conditions - such as heart disease, arthritis or diabetes - and do not cover drugs unrelated to these diseases. "The best way to help low-income seniors is through drug coverage for all seniors and people with disabilities through the Medicare program," Pollack said. Families USA has issued numerous reports about prescription drug cost burdens for seniors. You can access these reports on our web-page at www.familiesusa.org. Danielle Neal [log in to unmask] 202-628-3030