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<A HREF="http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27073-2001Mar5.html"> Click here: Bush Urges Congress To Revamp Medicare (washingtonpost.com) </A> President Bush has called for revamping Medicare by having seniors and the disabled obtain insurance from private companies. He proposed giving a small sum to Medicare recipients which they can apply against the cost of private insurance. Bush's budget leaves Congress little choice but to institute some sort of draconian reform NOW, because he has placed the entire Medicare trust fund into his budget as his "contingency fund." Sen. Kent Conrad pointed out to Mitch Daniels, of the White House Budget Office, that there didn't appear to be any line item listings for either education or military spending. Daniels agreed that those would have to come out of the "contingency fund." That means the entire Medicare Trust fund would disappear in the FY 2002 budget. Bush has offered no details of how his insurance plan would roll out. I know of very few companies who will agree to insure either those over 65 or the disabled. An uninsured PD friend of ours attempted to buy private insurance a few years ago. After a lengthy search she found a company that would insure her - at a cost of $1000 a month. It seems to me that we have no guarantee that insurance companies would agree to accept Medicare recipients at all. If they did, I would expect rates to be exhorbitant and for there to be exclusions for pre-existing conditions. The end result, it seems to me, will be a nation of uninsured seniors and disabled. Even in the event that we can find insurance, we'd be in the position of battling the insurance companies for payment for many routine treatments. Seniors and the disabled are, in my opinion, the least able to fend for themselves against a big insurance company. I'm afraid we'll have no say in heading off this disastrous plan. It already seems to be set in motion by the design of the tax cut and budget plan. However, we need to spread the word and write, phone, and fax our congressmen. If you have Republican representatives in Congress, you might want to send letters to the Democrats as well. I'll forward a mail site that allows you to write group letters to Congress. Margie Swindler