Immediate Action
Needed to Oppose the Medicare Prescription Drug Conference
Report
November
19, 2003
**YOUR
ACTION IS URGENTLY NEEDED **
The House and Senate Conference Committee
deliberating the Medicare prescription drug legislation (H.R.1/S.1)
have reached an agreement on what the final bill will look
like. The cost estimates of this compromise plan are now
being worked up. This might be completed today. Once the
cost of the bill is finalized, the remaining details will
be filled in, and then the whole package will be written
into legislative language. All this will happen quickly.
A vote on the bill might take place
as early as Saturday.
Earlier today, we faxed letters to every
member of Congress expressing our opposition and serious
concerns with many of the provisions included in the conference
report. Our letter is copied below and should serve as your “talking
points” guide when you contact your senators and representatives.
With AARP announcing its ad campaign and
support of the conference report, there is a very good chance
the bill will pass both the House and Senate. Every member
of Congress needs to hear why this agreement is bad public
policy and a bad deal for Medicare beneficiaries.
THEY NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU, your NASW
colleagues and other constituents in your community, so
please spread the word!! In
the final analysis, the provisions agreed to in this conference
report are not about adding a Medicare prescription drug
benefit, but about a devastating threat to the continued
stability and viability of the entire Medicare program.
Many Members of Congress are still undecided
about how they will vote. Your elected officials need to
hear from you in the next 48 hours. Please contact them
and help prevent the Medicare program from being dismantled.
Make a phone call, write an
e-mail, or send a fax TODAY to your senator or representative
to express your opposition. To reach them, call the U.S.
Capitol Switchboard at (202) 225-3121, or contact their
local district or state offices.
Please contact Enzo Pastore, senior government
relations associate at NASW’s National Office with any questions
or ideas at epastore@naswdc.org or
202.336.8336.
Thank you for your much needed advocacy
efforts!
November 19, 2003
The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy
United States Senate
428 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Kennedy: The National Association
of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest professional social
work organization with 145,000
members nationwide. NASW
promotes, develops, and protects the practice of social work
and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well
being of individuals, families, and communities through its
work, service, and advocacy.
On behalf of our
membership, I am writing to express our deep concern with
the conference agreement on the pending Medicare prescription
drug legislation. We unequivocally urge you to reject this
agreement for the following reasons:
- The
proposed agreement establishes a dangerous precedent for
traditional Medicare to compete against private plans.
Although the premium support provisions are being touted
as a “demonstration” program, it is in fact a major step
to a voucher system, transforming Medicare’s universal
risk pool into a multitude
of regional pools segmented by age, income, residence,
and health status. Any proposal that could potentially
negatively affect six million beneficiaries (up to 15%
of all beneficiaries) is not a demonstration. It is the
first step to privatizing Medicare that could ultimately
result in forcing the frailest beneficiaries into choosing
between private plans that severely restrict choice or
accepting unaffordable premium and other out-of-pocket
increases.
- Another
privatization concern is the $12 billion in additional
subsidies that will be given away to private insurance
carriers. This provision will act to further shift costs
onto Medicare beneficiaries and establish a framework for
transforming Medicare into a competitive, market-driven
system. This business model moves Medicare in the wrong
direction as it cannot provide the stability essential
for a health care system serving senior citizens and people
with disabilities.
- The
drug benefit coverage continues to remain inadequate and
unaffordable. The conference agreement contains large gaps
in coverage that will leave millions of beneficiaries with
large out-of-pocket expenses. In addition, the agreement
retains a strict asset test which prevents even very low
income individuals and families with the assistance they
need for co-pays, deductibles and premiums.
- Although
we applaud the conferees’ decision to cover the Medicare/Medicaid
dually eligible population through Medicare, a negative
outcome is that the dual eligibles will experience higher
out of pocket costs in Medicare than they do in Medicaid.
Their co-pays will be higher and the
proposal prohibits states from providing “wrap around” coverage
that would fill in the gaps not covered by the Medicare
benefit.
- The
guarantee of a federal fallback provision has been substantially
weakened from the original version in the Senate bill.
This agreement contains no assurance that
the premium for the drug-only plan will be anywhere near
the $35/month estimate.
- The
proposed agreement undermines Medicare’s universal nature
and fairness by requiring higher income individuals to
pay more for their Part B coverage.
In addition to
these issues, the proposed agreement creates a Medicare funding
crisis by establishing a cost containment system that arbitrarily
initiates a false Medicare insolvency and will likely result
in cuts to current benefits. These new accounting rules
which were not a part of the House or the Senate bills, do
not apply to any other government program, including education,
defense and tax cuts.
The proposal also
establishes Health Savings Accounts which have no relation
to Medicare. These tax shelters will jeopardize the health
benefits of working families. Lastly, the agreement will
result in millions of retirees losing their current retiree
health coverage which means they will
end up with a Medicare policy that is much less comprehensive
than what they now enjoy.
We believe that
senior citizens and people with disabilities deserve a Medicare
prescription drug benefit that is both affordable and accessible.
The proposed conference agreement offers neither. Rather,
it institutes changes that will devalue and undermine the
current structure and viability of the program. It is a plan
that Medicare beneficiaries will neither embrace nor support.
We welcome the opportunity to
work with you to fashion and promote a Medicare prescription
drug benefit that improves the health and well being of Medicare
beneficiaries, not a plan that threatens to dismantle a program
that has worked so successfully for over a generation.
If you have any
questions regarding our position or our comments, please
contact Enzo Pastore, Senior Government Relations Associate,
at 202.336.8336.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth J. Clark,
PhD, ACSW, MPH
Executive Director |
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