Posted At LSJ.com
BY : Daniel B. Wood
The new Medicare prescription drug program is causing all sorts of problems in Michigan and nationwide. The prime culprit seems to be confusion over so-called "dual eligibles" - people in the most need of government aid.
There should be no confusion over a solution, however. Rewrite the Medicare program now to focus exclusively on the truly needy; not on needy and affluent seniors alike.
Since Jan. 1, Michigan seniors, pharmacies and public officials have scrambled to ensure the right drugs get to the right people, and at the right prices. Most of the trouble stems from the decision to randomly assign more than 200,000 recipients to drug insurance plans - whether those plans met their needs or not.This is just another obvious flaw in a Medicare program stuffed with them:
The program is far too expensive - costing taxpayers at least $700 billion over the next decade.
The program is far too broad, giving access to millions of seniors who didn't need additional government aid.
The program is a giveaway to pharmaceutical firms because Congress barred Medicare from negotiating deep discounts in drug prices - a practice used effectively in other government programs.
And now we can see the program is overwhelmed by the administrative burden of trying to keep track of so many seniors with widely different medical and financial needs.
It could have been different, of course. A drug benefit targeted solely to the neediest seniors - as established by personal income and drug use - is feasible. It wouldn't overwhelm the Treasury or government computers.
It could be in operation now, had Congress not, instead, endorsed the existing, flawed law - thanks in large measure to mid-Michigan Congressmen Dave Camp, Vern Ehlers and Mike Rogers. (See http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll669.xml.)
Had these three Republicans voted the other way in 2003, the Medicare plan would have failed in the House. And America would now be much closer to real health reform.
