Perspective               

Premium Support

Watch out! A better Medicare for the pharmaceutical industry is bad medicine for older and disabled Americans. Better Medicare should mean that every older and disabled American can get good, affordable drug coverage without destroying the stability and security that Medicare guarantees them today.

Medicare works because it meets people's needs in sickness and in health, guaranteeing everyone the same benefits for the same premium set by law.

But, because Medicare does not cover prescription drugs, older and disabled Americans pay more for their prescription drugs than anyone else. In fact, older and disabled Americans subsidize drug costs for people under 65 in this country and people in other industrialized countries.

The pharmaceutical industry, masquerading as Citizens for Better Medicare, wants to replace Medicare with premium support, a voucher program, and is using limited drug coverage as bait.

Premium support is an insurance and pharmaceutical industry-supported proposal to replace Medicare with a voucher program that will force older and disabled Americans to pay more for less health care. It would require older and disabled adults to pay more for doctors and hospitals of their choice and would force all but the wealthy into an HMO. Older adults and people with disabilities would have to pay a lot more to get very limited prescription drug coverage. In short, premium support would destroy Medicare as we know it.

If you want to keep the Medicare you have, call your Senator or Congressperson. Tell them just to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare now and that their quote unquote reform proposal destroys Medicare. Don't let Congress force you to spend more for less health care.

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