Drug, Social Security plans panned
WASHINGTON – Delegates to the White House Conference on Aging, which is convened every 10 years to propose public policies on aging issues, criticized two of the Bush administration’s top priorities Tuesday: Social Security personal accounts and the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.
Delegates from across the nation overwhelmingly agreed in heated sessions that personal accounts were a bad idea. They also suggested the drug benefit be completely revised and administered by the government, not private companies.
The strong sentiments raised during the discussions on how to strengthen these two programs suggest there’s little popular support among advocates for seniors for the administration’s key aging policies.
Dr. Mark McClellan, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, drew a chorus of groans Monday when he told delegates that there were “no delays” when seniors called Medicare’s information hot line.
The majority of this year’s 1,200 delegates, who come from every state, were appointed by their state governors and congressional members, with about 400 selected by a policy committee from applicants.
This year, delegates had to pick 50 resolutions from 73 drafted in advance by the policy committee, then suggest ways they could become reality.
The resolutions covered a wide range of topics, from promoting ways to keep frail seniors at home instead of placing them in nursing homes to looking at ways to retain older workers.
They also proposed adding dental care and long-term care coverage to Medicare, allowing Social Security to collect taxes on wages above $90,000 and creating a database showing where seniors are living to provide a safety net during major disasters.
A report that lists recommendations must be delivered to all state governors within 100 days for their comment, as some suggestions would require state legislative action.
A final draft will be handed to Congress and the president by June.
Participants crafting proposals on how to strengthen and improve Medicare sharply criticized the prescription coverage created under the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, supported by the Bush administration.
In Florida, private companies that will be reimbursed by Medicare will offer a total of 103 plans as of Jan. 1.
Instead, delegates said the federal government should manage a simplified benefit and negotiate directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers for lower prices, as the federal Department of Veterans Affairs does now.
The savings could eliminate the coverage gap, they said.
To keep costs down, many of the new plans are asking seniors to pay about $3,600 out of their own pockets after they have received $2,250 in coverage.
The conference began Sunday and concludes today.
Bush is the first president in the conference’s history not to address the delegates.