Medicare Prescription Drug Bill: A Bad Deal for Women

November 21, 2003

"Senior women should not be fooled about the GOP-led Medicare prescription drug benefit proposal," National Organization for Women (NOW) President Kim Gandy warned. "It's a deceptive offer that will actually cause some seniors to lose coverage and could result in much higher drug prices in the long run. Senior women deserve better."

The conference agreement for H.R. 1, the so-called Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, was released yesterday, amidst a firestorm of controversy among senior groups, labor unions and other progressive organizations. Most of the Democratic congressional leadership opposes the legislation, including nearly all the presidential candidates. It is rumored that the legislation will be pushed through Congress in the next few days, while most Congressmembers have not had adequate time to study the 1,100 page document. NOW joins 200 other women's organizations, with collectively ten million members, all part of the National Council for Women's Organizations, in opposing this harmful legislation.

"Lawmakers' promise to seniors that a more generous prescription drug benefit would be theirs—if only they would abandon the guaranteed Medicare program that has served them well for decades and move to a risky managed care private insurance plan—is clearly a bad deal," Gandy said.

"Plus, the removal of authority from the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices means that prices will continue to escalate. U.S. Consumers already pay the highest prices in the world for prescription medications while many other nations regulate the cost of drugs," Gandy said. "For older women, who generally use more prescription medication than men and who have less income, on average, than senior men, the Medicare conference agreement means additional hardship."

"Even more outrageous is the reduced coverage for low-income and disabled persons under new restrictions for 'dual eligibles' who have been covered by both Medicare and Medicaid," Gandy. "I can't imagine what lawmakers were thinking when they made these changes that will unquestionably harm our parents and grandparents."

"NOW activists across the country oppose this plan which, if enacted, would begin to dismantle Medicare," Gandy said. "Forcing Medicare to compete with government-subsidized private programs—which would draw healthier and wealthier seniors while leaving older and sicker seniors in traditional Medicare—is the beginning of the end, because premiums would spiral upwards. The final blow for Medicare would be the proposed 'cost-containment' caps that would squeeze the program dry, forcing deep cuts and leading to a fatal fiscal crisis."

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