St. Paul Pioneer Press
Congress and President Clinton are agreed on the need for senior citizens to have access to affordable prescription drugs. But tacking an expensive new universal drug benefit onto the existing Medicare program would be like tossing lead weights into a sinking boat. Medicare’s commitments to tomorrow’s beneficiaries far exceed the program’s financial resources. Adding a new outpatient drug benefit will inevitably cost more than the $160 billion the president anticipates over 10 years. Cost overruns will inevitably lead to rationing and restrictions.
Further, requiring the federal government to oversee payment for an additional 700 million to 900 million pharmaceutical transactions every year will swamp the system.
Addressing the prescription drug issue with a patchwork approach will only add to the problems of the price-controlled, micromanaged Medicare program already governed by 132,000 pages of regulations.
Despite Medicare’s popularity, it is remarkably out of date. It is a Swiss-cheese program that pays only 53 percent of the medical expenses of seniors. Beneficiaries are forced to seek supplementary coverage to fill the holes.
Today, two-thirds of seniors have supplementary coverage that covers prescription drugs, but one-third must pay for their medications out of pocket — or worse, go without essential medicines.
The lack of prescription drug coverage represents only one of many holes in the Medicare program. The bureaucracy simply cannot keep up with the growing demand for new treatments and technologies.
Lawmakers contemplating how to create a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients would do well to examine how drug benefits are managed in other federal health programs in the United States, such as the Veteran’s Administration health program. These programs, which use an array of price controls and restrictions on patient choice to save costs, demonstrate how government-enforced benefits can actually deny patients the best medicine.
For example, VA patients with pancreatic cancer are not allowed to receive Gemzar, the newest drug for that disease, when they are first diagnosed. They must first “fail” on other drugs.
Several studies have demonstrated that VA patients suffering from schizophrenia have a better quality of life under clozapine. Yet haldol — an older drug — is on the VA’s list of approved drugs while clozapine and newer drugs, such as risperdal and olanzapine, are not.
If Congress passes a stand-alone drug benefit for Medicare, supply-limiting price controls and rationing are sure to follow.
In a reformed Medicare, private health plans will see the value of providing drug coverage as an integral part of their health plans.
Sens. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and John Breaux, D-La., have introduced legislation that would give Medicare beneficiaries the option of selecting from a range of private health plans offering benefits, including drug coverage, that would be much more comprehensive and cost-effective than today’s Medicare.
Before Medicare reform is fully implemented, Congress could vote to provide a supplementary payment to low-income senior citizens without drug coverage.
This supplementary payment then could sunset when Medicare reform is implemented in 2003, providing full coverage of all benefits (core benefits and drugs) at no cost for low-income beneficiaries.
There is a strong commitment in the Senate to act this year, but the House, burned from the 1996 Medicare fight, will be reluctant to move forward.
President Clinton could embellish his legacy by providing the leadership to implement courageous, visionary change in an election year.
Medicare reform provides that opportunity to move forward with the right and responsible approach to truly solving the problem for today’s and tomorrow’s beneficiaries.