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Friday Alert 7/22/05
Alliance for Retired Americans
888 16th Street, N.W. - Washington DC, 20006 - (202)
974-8222 - www.retiredamericans.org
Surplus Plan Doesn't Pass Muster With White House
Privatizers sighed in frustration this week in response to
comments by Ben Bernanke the new chairman of President Bush's Council of
Economic Advisors. It seems Mr. Bernanke disappointed privateers by suggesting
that President Bush would insist that any final Social Security legislation
include not only private accounts but a plan to fix the program's finances
(President Bush has proposed steep benefit cuts). Republicans who see their
chances of injecting private accounts slipping away under growing public
opposition have introduced bills in both the House and Senate that would raid
the system's surplus to fund accounts but do nothing to address possible
shortfalls. "At the end of the day, any plan that takes money from Social
Security for private accounts is the wrong plan. Period." said George J.
Kourpias, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans. Any legislative
movement on Social Security is not expected until September at the earliest.
President Bush's domestic agenda has taken a back seat lately, but today he
shows up in Atlanta, GA in an event billed as a "conversation on senior
security" before another hand-picked audience of seniors. Many of the uninvited,
including the newly chartered Georgia Alliance for Retired Americans, will be on
hand to greet the president. "If these were actual conversations then seniors
could ask President Bush why he insists on destroying Social Security through
privatization and why Medicare is prohibited from negotiating for lower drug
prices," declared Kourpias.
Medicare Drug Plan Faces a Rocky Road
The Bush administration's cross-country campaign to sell the new Medicare drug
benefit is finding the road to success rather bumpy. For the program to
succeed, wide participation is required. However, seniors remain skeptical of
how beneficial the plan actually is. Private insurers will administer the drug
benefit, but for them to profit large numbers of relatively healthy people will
need to enroll and pay premiums to offset the costs of those with high drug
expenses. In hopes of encouraging seniors to sign up later this year,
administration health officials are on a nationwide sales drive to praise the
drug benefit, but end up leaving their senior audiences with more questions than
answers. Important information such as the cost of monthly premiums and which
drugs will be covered won't even be available until this fall when beneficiaries
will be bombarded with materials from insurers anxious to tap into Medicare's
lucrative health care market. Advocates are concerned that seniors will be so
overwhelmed by the number of choices they will simply do nothing. "This could
have been a lot easier and benefited many more seniors had President Bush and
Congress not insisted on privatizing Medicare." said Ruben Burks,
secretary-treasurer of the Alliance.
Despite its complexity, most policy experts will agree that the new benefit
will be a good deal for low-income people and for those with drug costs over
$5,100 a year. Under the "extra help" program, eligible Medicare beneficiaries
won't have to pay monthly premiums or deductibles. Visit the Alliance's website
at
www.retiredamericans.org/medicare to get more information on Medicare's drug
benefit and how it might affect you.
Legalizing Drug Reimportation Overcomes First Hurdle
in Senate
Supporters of lifting the ban on drug imports celebrated a rare victory
yesterday with the passage of a bi-partisan amendment in a contentious battle in
the Senate Commerce Committee. The amendment, co-sponsored by Sens. Byron Dorgan
(D-NE) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), was resoundingly approved with a 14-8 vote.
Reimportation still faces the even larger hurdle of getting a vote on the Senate
floor and has formidable opponents including the powerful drug lobby as well as
the Bush administration. Still, almost 80% of Americans believe Congress should
legalize drug imports from countries such as Canada where prices can be as much
as 40% lower. Canada's health minister has recently taken steps that may curb
drug exports to the U.S. so the amendment also includes a provision that would
designate other countries from which drugs could safely be imported.
"Seniors and their families can make this amendment a reality," said Edward
F. Coyle, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans. "While it
does not solve the problem of skyrocketing drug prices, it certainly helps. We
encourage Alliance members to thank those Members of Congress who continue to
support this measure and pressure those opposed to stop putting profits over
people and vote in favor of legalizing drug imports." For a breakdown of the
Senate Commerce Committee vote, visit our website at
www.retiredamericans.org.
Direct-To-Consumer Drug Advertising Draws Ire and
Action
In the wake of recent safety issues related to drugs like Vioxx, which was the
most heavily promoted drug in the U.S., Congress is considering legislation to
restrict or limit direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of new drugs. Although
the drug industry claims its massive profits are necessary for research and
development, spending on prescription drug ads has exploded in recent years
reaching $4.1 billion last year, almost four times the amount spent in 1997.
Congress is under increasing pressure to act on patient safety concerns
regarding prescription drugs. The drug industry is well-known for its fully
funded armada of 600 lobbyists, more than one for each member of Congress. In
order to avoid government regulation, the pharmaceutical industry took steps
towards voluntarily limiting DTC ads, but consumer advocates argued that the
industry would not be able to police themselves and recommended tougher
government oversight. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the government's
watchdog for the industry, did not fare well in the poll either with 61% saying
the FDA is doing a fair or poor job monitoring drug advertising. Earlier this
week, the Senate confirmed Dr. Lester Crawford as head of the FDA. Crawford had
been serving as acting FDA chief since Dr. Mark McClellan left the post in 2003
to take over the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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Respect and Protect Retirement Security! Come to Washington, DC
September 7-9 and Lobby Congress at the Alliance for Retired Americans
Legislative Conference - Register at
www.retiredamericans.org/legconf or call Joni Jones at
1-888-373-6497
Become part of a progressive grassroots movement!.
Join the Alliance
Alliance for Retired Americans 888 16th St, NW Washington, DC 20008
Click here to sign up for Alliance for Retired Americans.
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