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Rahall Report
By U.S. Rep.
Nick Rahall (D-WV)
Congress missed an
opportunity to do
something historic for
the seniors and disabled
individuals of West
Virginia and our great
Nation. We could have
expanded prescription
drug coverage for all
Medicare beneficiaries,
ensured that rural
beneficiaries receive
the same coverage as
those in big cities, and
allowed our Government
to negotiate for the
lowest drug prices for
our seniors and disabled
individuals. I fought
for all of these
measures when the U.S.
House of Representatives
first took up this issue
earlier this year.
But, instead of
broadening the reach of
a program championed by
democrats for the life
of the program,
Republicans in Congress
rammed through a
terribly flawed bill
that among other things
will make people spend
$4,000.00 to save
$1,000.00 in drug
benefits. Do Republican
leaders think they can
finally privatize
Medicare by filling 20%
of a prescription bottle
for seniors?
In West Virginia the
numbers are even
scarier. According to
the Senate Health,
Education, Labor, and
Pensions Committee
minority staff, 29,610
Medicare beneficiaries
will lose their retiree
health benefits and
44,900 Medicaid
recipients will pay more
for the prescription
drugs they need. In
addition, 28,250 fewer
West Virginia seniors
will qualify for
low-income protections
under this bill. The
Republicans have cracked
the foundation of
Medicare, letting big
insurance corporations
grab profits, leaving
our sickest and poorest
seniors to pay more.
But the problem with
this unsound legislation
does not stop here.
According to the
Democratic staff of the
House Ways and Means and
Energy and Commerce
Committees the Medicare
bill Republicans pushed
upon the American public
would:
·
Keep drug prices high.
The proposed plan bows
to drug industry
pressure and prevents
Medicare from
negotiating better
prices, and prevents
access to lower-cost
drugs available in
other countries,
allowing drug
companies profits to
skyrocket at the
expense of patients.
·
Raise Medicare
premiums for seniors
who don't want to join
an HMO.
Millions of Medicare
beneficiaries will be
forced to pay more for
Medicare if they don't
give up their doctor
and join an HMO.
Although Republicans
say it will be
limited, as many as 7
million seniors could
be forced to
participate.
·
Force more than 6
million low-income
seniors to pay more
for their medicine.
The plan prohibits
Medicaid from filling
in the gaps in the new
Medicare drug benefit,
as Medicaid does now.
As a result, this bill
could actually raise
costs for more than 6
million low-income
seniors and people
with disabilities.
·
Leave millions of
seniors without drug
coverage for part of
the year.
Rather than providing
continuous coverage,
the Medicare benefit
has a $2800 gap in
coverage that will
leave millions of
seniors without drug
coverage for part of
the year, even though
they continue to pay
full price on their
premiums.
·
Erode retiree coverage
for 2 to 3 million
seniors.
More than 2 million
seniors who have good
drug coverage now
through retiree health
plans could lose it
under the proposed
plan. This is because
it discriminates
against seniors with
such coverage. This
debate was supposed to
be about expanding
coverage, not taking
it away.
·
Coerce seniors into
joining an HMO.
The proposed plan
would grossly overpay
private HMOs and PPOs
and includes a $12
billion slush fund to
bribe plans to
participate. Better
benefits and lower
premiums would only be
available through
private plans - not
currently an option
for most rural
seniors. Worse, if
HMOs do move into
rural areas, it will
actually undermine the
guaranteed coverage
that exists today for
rural beneficiaries
under Medicare.
Seniors who have
access to HMOs will be
forced to give up the
choice of physician or
their preferred
hospital to get better
benefits.
This fatally
flawed Medicare
prescription drug
legislation caters to
the drug industry, HMOs,
and the insurance
industry - not West
Virginia seniors and
people with
disabilities. Congress
needs to go back to
where we started, help
seniors with their
prescriptions, period.
U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall
(D-WV) represents West
Virginia's 3rd
District
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