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| Wilson Highlights Prescription Drug Plan to Seniors at Town Hall |
April 25, 2000 |
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Congress Plans to Modernizes Medicare, Protect Seniors from Runaway Prescription Drug Costs
Albuquerque, NM – During a town hall meeting with constituents at the Vista Del Rio Senior Center, Congresswoman Heather Wilson discussed the preliminary outline of a new comprehensive plan to strengthen Medicare while modernizing the program with a prescription drug benefit for seniors. The plan, details of which are being developed in Congress, would offer voluntary prescription drug coverage to every senior while protecting them from exploding prices that threaten their financial security.
“We need to address the problem of low income seniors who have high drug costs in a way that preserves choices for seniors and does not inhibit the development of the next generation of miracle drugs. A proposal is beginning to take shape in Washington that permits market forces - not regulations and price controls - to offer Medicare beneficiaries more choices and lower drug costs,” said Wilson. “I want to get input from New Mexicans about this approach.”
Details have not been worked out, but the initial concept would:
* Offer Universal High Cost Coverage: Provide coverage and security against escalating out-of-pocket drug costs for every Medicare beneficiary by setting a dollar limit beyond which Medicare would pay 100% of drug costs for those on Medicare. The proposal initially put forward by the administration paid for drug costs up to $2000 a year. Anything above $2000 would have to be paid by the patient with no help from Medicare.
* Make Prescription Drug Insurance Available for Low Costs: Allow Medicare recipients to choose from several competing prescription drug insurance plans. The new drug benefit would be 100% voluntary while preserving current coverage for seniors who want to keep what they have. If a senior is pleased with his/her current policy, they can choose to stay with their original plan. Instead of limiting the types of drugs health plans can cover, the proposal allows beneficiaries to choose coverage that fits their health needs.
* Reduce Drug Costs Through Bulk Discounts for Insured: The plan gives Medicare beneficiaries real bargaining power through private health plans to purchase drugs at discount rates. Studies show, including the White House study released April 10th, that insurance-based plans offer policyholders discounts of at least 15 percent on drug prices. Health plans are able to do this through flexibility on cost-sharing, tier pricing, benefit design, formularies, etc.
* Invest $40 Billion to Add the Prescription Drug Benefit: The proposal invests $40 billion of the non-Social Security surplus to strengthen Medicare and offer prescription drug coverage to every beneficiary. The five-year investment sets aside $5.2 billion more than the President’s plan.
* Protect Scientific Research and Medical Innovation to Find Tomorrow’s Cures. The plan rejects price controls so that innovation and development of life saving drug therapies will continue. In recent years, scientific and medical research resulted in 400 medications to treat the top 3 killers of seniors – heart disease, cancer and stroke.
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