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CWA: Medicare Plan is Giveaway to HMOs, Drug Industry
CWA President Morton Bahr issued the following statement on the Senate vote on changes to Medicare:
Washington, D.C. -- With today's Senate vote, Congress has wasted an opportunity to provide needed help for seniors on prescription drug costs and to make positive changes in the Medicare program. Instead, the proposal pushed by the Bush administration squanders billions of Medicare dollars on unnecessary giveaways to insurance companies and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and the drug industry and does nothing to address the real cause of growing health care and drug costs.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said this proposal would bring about "the unraveling of the Medicare system." He's right. This plan is simply a back door attempt to weaken the safety net of Medicare without raising the ire of the public – and especially seniors – who want Medicare preserved and improved.
Seniors who have been promised relief from prescription drug costs that sometimes exceed hundreds of dollars a month will be disillusioned as they learn how paltry the Medicare assistance actually will be. The big winners are the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, which will receive big subsidies and a guarantee that the federal government won't be able to negotiate drug prices for Medicare recipients.
CWA members work for many major employers that offer a prescription drug benefit for retired workers. These employers acknowledge that the Medicare proposal will not reduce their costs. In fact, they stress that this plan provides absolutely no relief for responsible employers – who help provide health care and drug coverage for employees – on skyrocketing health care or drug costs.
Unfortunately, this plan will be an incentive to some employers to discontinue the prescription drug coverage they provide for retired workers. This means at least two to three million seniors will actually be worse off, forced to rely on an inadequate Medicare benefit. Millions more will incur health care costs as the dollars that should support Medicare services are siphoned off by HMOs and the drug industry, all thanks to the Bush administration's determination to reward its industry friends.
Washington, D.C. -- With today's Senate vote, Congress has wasted an opportunity to provide needed help for seniors on prescription drug costs and to make positive changes in the Medicare program. Instead, the proposal pushed by the Bush administration squanders billions of Medicare dollars on unnecessary giveaways to insurance companies and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and the drug industry and does nothing to address the real cause of growing health care and drug costs.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy said this proposal would bring about "the unraveling of the Medicare system." He's right. This plan is simply a back door attempt to weaken the safety net of Medicare without raising the ire of the public – and especially seniors – who want Medicare preserved and improved.
Seniors who have been promised relief from prescription drug costs that sometimes exceed hundreds of dollars a month will be disillusioned as they learn how paltry the Medicare assistance actually will be. The big winners are the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, which will receive big subsidies and a guarantee that the federal government won't be able to negotiate drug prices for Medicare recipients.
CWA members work for many major employers that offer a prescription drug benefit for retired workers. These employers acknowledge that the Medicare proposal will not reduce their costs. In fact, they stress that this plan provides absolutely no relief for responsible employers – who help provide health care and drug coverage for employees – on skyrocketing health care or drug costs.
Unfortunately, this plan will be an incentive to some employers to discontinue the prescription drug coverage they provide for retired workers. This means at least two to three million seniors will actually be worse off, forced to rely on an inadequate Medicare benefit. Millions more will incur health care costs as the dollars that should support Medicare services are siphoned off by HMOs and the drug industry, all thanks to the Bush administration's determination to reward its industry friends.