Comparing Prescription Drug Proposals: Bush v. Gore
Table of Contents
Introduction
"Gore proposes three health plans with three different premiums."
Compared to the health care coverage available to people below age 65, Medicare health care coverage for seniors is very inadequate. It exposes many of them to thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. Each year, some 360,000 have expenses in excess of $5,000 on services theoretically covered by Medicare. A majority deal with this risk by acquiring Medigap coverage - either from a previous employer or through direct purchase in the marketplace. Yet even with two health insurance plans, most seniors still typically do not have the same prescription drug coverage as most non-seniors. This failing has become a more contentious issue as the development of new, innovative drugs has, in many cases, replaced surgery or other more expensive treatments and reduced hospital stays.
The two major presidential candidates, Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, offer competing proposals to cover prescription drugs costs for the elderly. The two proposals have fundamentally different visions:
- Vice President Gore proposes the addition of a third insurance program for seniors, this one covering prescription drugs; as a result, most seniors would have three plans with three premiums (Medicare Part B, Medigap and prescription drug coverage).
- Gov. Bush, following the recommendation of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare,1 proposes to allow the elderly to enroll in the same kind of comprehensive health plans available to the non-elderly; as a result, seniors would have one plan with one premium.
This report looks at the implications and consequences of these two approaches.
