At Senate Finance Hearing, Witnesses Say Medicare Rx Benefit Could Prompt Firms to Drop Drug Coverage for Retirees
Witnesses told the Senate Finance Committee on April 24 that implementing a Medicare prescription drug benefit could lead employers and states to reduce or drop their drug coverage for seniors, the AP/South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Health care consultant Steven Coppock said that 20% of companies would end their drug assistance programs for retirees if a federal benefit was added, while the "remaining companies" would look to share costs with the government. "I imagine some [employers] would look at this as an opportunity to exit the business," he said. Although several newspapers have reported recently that states are establishing prescription drug programs in the absence of federal action, Ray Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors' Association, told the committee that states are "reluctant" to set up their own programs. "States have shouldered much of these costs for years through Medicaid and state assistance programs. If a universal benefit is created within the Medicare program, it must truly be a federal benefit." Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) echoed these concerns, saying that seniors are "worried that Congress will ruin a good thing for them" (McQueen, AP/South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 4/25).
Rocking the Boat
Meanwhile, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), a member of the Finance Committee, said that committee hearings to date on a Medicare drug benefit "have produced fundamentally no progress whatsoever," adding, "We all bring up our little nits and score our little points, but there is no systemic approach at the Finance Committee." Speaking to reporters, Rockefeller said "there is still a chance" that the committee could produce a proposal by the summer, but only if "something changes soon." He said, "We've gone back into this pattern of endless hearings on the theory that endless hearings lead somewhere." Responding to Rockefeller during the hearing, Grassley said that he "intended to move soon to more formal meetings" (Rovner, CongressDaily, 4/24). To view a Healthcast of the hearing or other prescription drug issues, go to http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast