(WASHINGTON, DC) – Congressman Dennis Moore (Third District – Kansas) today joined a number of moderate House members to introduce legislation calling for a prescription drug benefit within the existing Medicare program. Moore’s bill would not include provisions to privatize Medicare, as the legislation offered by the House leadership does, and is similar to a tri-partisan measure currently considered in the Senate.

“Drug prices have skyrocketed in recent years and many seniors are having a hard time paying for their prescriptions. We need to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare that is meaningful and affordable for Kansas’ seniors. This plan will create opportunities to negotiate lower drug costs and provide catastrophic coverage,” Moore said. “What we don’t need is the House leadership bill which will take us down the road to privatizing Medicare. That would be the end of the Medicare system as we know it.”

Moore has joined as a sponsor of this prescription drug bill, which is endorsed by the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of House members focused on fiscally responsible policies. They hope their measure will be an alternative to the pending House leadership bill, H.R. 2473, which would eventually dismantle the Medicare system by requiring it to compete against private plans. The bill was authored by Rep. Mike Thompson (CA).

“America's seniors and families deserve a comprehensive prescription drug plan—and they need it now. I’ve heard from Kansas seniors who have to choose between buying food and their prescriptions. At a time when seven of 10 seniors say they would prefer health care through their existing Medicare plan, I support their decision and see this bill as the best option to bring immediate relief,” Moore said.

In addition, Moore’s bill opens the process for discounts negotiated by discount cards and private plans to ensure that discounts are actually passed through to consumers. It also counts drug costs covered by employer-provided retiree health plans against the catastrophic threshold to prevent private plans from dropping retiree health coverage. Finally, like the Senate plan, the bill would provide assistance for seniors within 160 percent of the poverty line and with excessively high drug costs.

In contrast, the pending House leadership’s bill, H.R. 2473, would create a “donut hole” in coverage, forcing seniors to pay 100 percent of their annual drug costs between $2,000 and $4,900. A number of seniors’ advocates have expressed concern that the bill will convert Medicare into a voucher and force most Medicare beneficiaries into private, for-profit managed care plans. Even worse, H.R. 2473 doesn’t ensure a safety net, in case no coverage plans decide to participate. However, Moore’s bill would guarantee basic Medicare coverage for seniors.

H.R. 2473 falls short on several other fronts as well. It doesn’t provide a Medicare inflation adjustment for hospitals, meaning that Third District facilities will lose over $11 million alone. The bill introduced by Moore would allocate adjustment funds instead of leaving hospitals hamstrung. Similarly, the House leadership’s proposal would also cost all Kansas teaching hospitals $3.9 million in 2003 and $21 million over five years by failing to address the Indirect Medical Education payment adjustment factor. Finally, a number of cancer patients have sounded their dissatisfaction with H.R. 2473, which would cut half a billion dollars from cancer care in treatment centers.

“The House leadership’s bill won’t bring enough relief to enough seniors. In the end, it will take compromise in order to meet the needs of Kansans,” said Moore. “We’ve got to find a reasonable solution to ease these escalating costs—one that creates real relief for seniors, but doesn’t dig the deficit ditch deeper. I think this bill is the best way to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare and I want to see it happen.”