The Medicare Drug Benefit Debacle

8 Problems with Our Health Care System #5

It was one of those rare occasions where those on the left and those on the right agreed that something needed to be done. The elderly were in desperate need of help. The cost of prescription drugs was destroying the financial well being of far too many people. The government would have to add a prescription drug plan to Medicare. What form would the program take?

Well, with the Republicans in charge of the Presidency and the Congress, it was clear that the conservatives would be designing the plan. Because of their unfailing belief in the market and in glory and greatness of private industry, the conservatives designed a plan that would ultimately make a lot of money for the insurance companies. Rather than the government providing the benefit directly, private insurance companies would offer competing plans from which seniors could choose. In 2003, President Bush signed the plan into law.

There were myriad problems.

• Different plans covered different drugs at different rates.
• Finding out which drugs were covered was not easy, and for the newer drugs, it would involve a phone call to the company.
• Insurers were given the right to drop coverage at any time, but seniors could only change their plan once per year.
• The roll out did not go smoothly and many seniors were without their drugs for a period of time.
• The government was specifically forbidden to negotiate for better prices with the pharmaceutical companies.
• To keep the insurance companies happy and to encourage them to continue providing the drug benefit plans, they were granted significant tax breaks and subsidies.

The Medicare drug benefit is the perfect example of why Republicans shouldn't be allowed to create and run government programs. They don't believe government can work, and they prove it every time they get a chance to run things. Yes, the plan has helped many seniors, but at what cost? The benefit is ridiculously expensive.

It seems that, in the long run, this is what the Republicans want. By turning the program into a budgetary nightmare, they hope they can turn people against any government provided solution. We can't allow it to work. It is within the power of government to provide a prescription drug benefit to our seniors, and it is in their power to do it more efficiently than a private company.

Source - Sick: The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis --- and the People Who Pay the Price by Jonathan Cohn