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Medicare drug plan: A bitter
pill to swallow December 3, 2003 More than 100 NYSUT activists boarded buses for a rally at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., calling the Medicare bill a bad deal for seniors. Choosing profits over people, Congress approved a horrendous overhaul that privatizes Medicare in exchange for a paltry prescription drug plan. "We may have lost this battle, but the long, hard fight begins today to restore Medicare's promise," said New York State United Teachers Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. "We have two years until implementation. In the coming election year, we must educate our members about the importance of electing a president and Congress that will protect workers and retirees." The bill, narrowly approved in a contentious overnight session only after President Bush made personal phone calls to congressional reps, will send billions of dollars in subsidies to insurance companies and Health Maintenance Organizations, and take the first step in allowing private plans to compete with Medicare. In return, the bill will add a small and inadequate prescription drug benefit to Medicare for the first time since the program was created in 1965. Under tremendous pressure from the White House, all of New York's Republicans voted for this terrible legislation, while all the state's Democrats voted against it. Lubin noted that in spite of being targeted by health care, insurance and drug industry lobbyists, U.S. Reps. Steve Israel and Tim Bishop, both Long Island Democrats, stood strong and voted against the bogus bill. "We applaud them and we'll be asking our delegation's Republicans to justify their vote," Lubin said. "Many of our members are also asking how the AARP, the nation's largest retiree advocacy group, could have betrayed them and helped President Bush, HMOs and the drug industry ram this bill through in the wee hours of the morning." In fact, at a rally in Washington, D.C., and at a protest in Albany, some unionists cut up or burned their AARP cards to express their outrage. Others fired off letters. "In endorsing this bill, the AARP has broken faith with its members," wrote NYSUT retiree Leo Hoenig, demanding his AARP dues money back. "You have sold us out." (See full letter.) "AARP receives a good deal of its income from insurance companies," Lubin noted. "Perhaps that income is more important to them than the dues of its members." "It's the first step toward a total dismantling of Medicare," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, who led the Democrats' fight against the measure and spoke at a rally organized by the Alliance for Retired Americans two days before the historic vote. "The moment it is implemented, it will make 9 million senior citizens, almost a quarter of all seniors, worse off than they are today." The legislation could cause up to 2.7 million retirees to lose their existing drug coverage, unionists said, because it will encourage employers to stop their contributions. In New York, an estimated 215,000 Medicare enrollees are at risk of losing existing benefits, according to an analysis prepared by the Democratic staff of the House Ways and Means Committee. A tax subsidy is available only to private employers but not to public plans. Under "means testing," higher- income people earning above $80,000 per year would pay bigger premiums, co-pays and higher deductibles than other beneficiaries. Lubin thanked the many NYSUT members who sent thousands of messages and made calls to Congress to express their concerns. On Nov. 19, more than 100 NYSUT members boarded buses from around the state to join the Alliance for Retired Americans in a Washington, D.C., rally to protest the Medicare legislation, calling it a lemon of a bill. - Sylvia Saunders |
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