Friday, Aug. 2, 2002 | 4:02 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION: August 4, 2002
For years now members of Congress have realized the one great shortcoming of Medicare -- it doesn't cover prescription drugs. And for years partisan stubbornness, as demonstrated over the past two weeks of July, has thwarted any action to correct the shortcoming. A major rift during this latest attempt to provide coverage centered on who would administer it -- Medicare or private insurers.
Republicans holding out for prescription drug coverage that would be entrusted to private insurers need to hit the history books. The whole reason Medicare came into being was because private insurers were writing off elderly people and their medical needs as bad risks. After five years of debating various proposals to correct this shortcoming of the private sector, Congress in July 1965 passed the bill that created Medicare. Considering the millions of people that Medicare would benefit then and for generations to come, passage of this bill was one of Congress' finest moments.
In July 2002, however, Congress displayed one of its worst moments when, after two weeks of debate, it failed to update Medicare with prescription drug coverage. In 1965 people could use mad money in filling a prescription at their corner drug store and have enough left over for a bagful of toiletries. Today many seniors are using their grocery money, with very little if any left over.
The Republican-controlled House had earlier passed a bill inspired by President Bush, a bill that would subsidize private insurance companies and health plans under the naive assumption that they would in turn take care to provide affordable medicine for senior citizens. For our money, we've seen enough of health maintenance organizations (think health-care crisis) and private medical insurance (think malpractice crisis) to understand how prescription drug coverage would be handled under that plan. And in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats but only when a simple majority is needed, none of the various plans for prescription drug coverage through Medicare could muster the 60 votes needed under Senate budget rules.
So gridlock prevailed again, and members of Congress are now off for their August recess. They need to come back after the recess and honor their forebears of July 1965 by passing a bill that covers -- under Medicare -- at least the most needy of our senior citizens.
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