For more than 40 years, Medicare has provided affordable, reliable and quality health care for millions of seniors.  Unfortunately, changes to Medicare enacted as part of the prescription drug plan, or Part D, pose an increasing threat to the financial security of seniors.

Congress and the Bush administration implemented an overly complex prescription drug plan that is doing more to line the pockets of insurance and pharmaceutical companies than to provide significant savings for the average senior.

This year alone 6.9 million seniors in Part D are expected to fall through the "doughnut hole," the gap in coverage that forces them to pay 100 percent of drug costs. The other shoe is about to drop, hitting many seniors with substantially higher premiums for basic Medicare Part B health coverage starting Jan. 1.

Despite the fact that premiums for Medicare Part B have doubled since 2000, depending on income, many seniors will face dramatic increases due to a means testing provision Republicans snuck into the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act at the last minute with no debate.

This tax on seniors just isn't fair and would save less than three-tenths of 1 percent of Medicare's total budget.

The federal government currently pays 75 percent of every senior's Part B premium. In 2007, the federal government's share will be reduced for beneficiaries with an annual income above $80,000. These seniors' Part B premiums could increase from $88.50 per month in 2006 to as much as $162 per month in 2007 —- that's nearly double. Within three years, some seniors could be paying $395 per month for Part B.

Some argue that higher income seniors can afford to shoulder more of the burden. Indeed, they already do by paying higher income and Social Security taxes, which help to subsidize Medicare. In many areas of the country, the cost of living is so high that seniors of most any income level simply can't afford to pay nearly $3,700 more annually for basic health coverage.

To make matters worse, in President Bush's proposed Fiscal Year 2007 budget, the inflation adjustment for Part B means testing is eliminated. While seniors with current incomes of less than $80,000 would not be affected initially, means testing will creep deeper into the middle class.

Just as the Alternative Minimum Tax —- created to ensure that the wealthiest Americans paid their fair share of income taxes —- could hit 23 million American families next year because it isn't adjusted for inflation, means testing will hit more and more middle-class seniors over time.

Medicare Part B premiums have become the new "target for convenience" for saving Medicare dollars when better options exist, such as giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices for Part D or re-importing cheaper, safe drugs.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul has never worked, and robbing them both certainly won't. Raising seniors' primary health care coverage to pay for a complicated plan that's not bringing down their drug costs will hurt seniors financially overall in the end.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services already estimates that 50,000 seniors will leave the program because of increased premiums. If higher-income seniors leave Medicare because they can get a better deal elsewhere, it will become a welfare program for the poorest and sickest, undermining the universality that has kept the program strong for generations.

We can't let that happen.

I've introduced the Medicare Part B Premium Fairness Act to stop means testing. It may not be the solution to Medicare's long-term solvency, but it will put the brakes on a plan that sends Medicare speeding toward disaster.

And, it should be the start of the bipartisan, thoughtful debate Congress must have to ensure Medicare's financial stability.

The following op-ed by Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey was published in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Sunday, September 17, 2006.