By
Lora J. Mackel
Drawn by warm weather and a friendly environment, 123,147 seniors call Tucson their home. And it is this population, and similar populations of retirees all over the country, that is the target demographic for the two presidential nominees' plans for a prescription drug benefit. While it is wonderful that the candidates are giving air time to both the issues of healthcare and the plight of the elderly, the plans put forth by these men do nothing to lower the cost of prescription drugs and are too complicated to improve the lives of Tucson's neediest seniors.
Thanks to break-through advanced technology and improved healthcare, Tucson's elderly population is living a longer life. But longer does not mean better. Many outlive their bank accounts, and rely on social security checks as their primary source of income. This often means making tough choices between the basics like rent and food and the medications that maintain their health. Many seniors who did not begin retirement in poverty, end their retired lives destitute and struggle to maintain this fragile balance of existence. With age often comes diminished income, physical and mental abilities. For these reasons, our nation's elderly is one of our most vulnerable populations, and therefore deserve the public's care.
By federal standards, the monthly income of an impoverished person is $700 a month. Some seniors spend over $200 on drugs just to keep functioning. Imagine where corners are cut when incomes dwindle from $700 to $500 a month. And this is the daily life of many of the elderly, cutting corners and living on a social security check.
Thankfully, the elderly can get healthcare through Medicare. But Medicare is not without its own problems. There are co-payments, and the program does not cover all expenses. More importantly, it does not cover prescription drugs. Many seniors who can afford to do so use supplemental insurance, but these premiums are high and out of reach for many. They can choose to join a Medicare HMO, but this too is becoming an impractical suggestion. There are only two Medicare HMOs left for Tucson seniors to choose from, and as these plan's premiums get higher, they are paying out less to their members. Additionally, both supplemental insurance and Medicare HMOs have a prescription drug cap, and once their policy holders exhaust it, they must bear the full cost of drugs.
It is for these reasons that seniors and their advocates have been so excited about the talk of a prescription drug benefit. But sadly, like most campaign promises, both candidates' plans will do little to improve the lives of seniors or fix the problems of Medicare and lower the costs of drugs. Take Bush's plan: his plan to give seniors their drugs is to give a limited amount of federal money to Medicare HMOs or to supplemental plans. Unfortunately, his opponent's is not much better. Gore also plans to give federal money to private industry, but his plan does not deal with costs and provides an additional hurdle for seniors to deal with. Imagine an elderly person having to bring three different insurance cards with three different sets of benefits and limitations to every doctor's visit, and you will see how Gore and Bush's plans fall flat.
What seniors really need, and have not gotten, is a serious overhaul of the Medicare system, and a plan that will both provide for prescription drugs and lower their costs. This would not be without its own very high expenses to the American taxpayer. There will be many people who will strenuously object to this overhaul as socialism in America. And perhaps it will be, but the alternative is too inhumane to consider. No human being should be made to live longer only to starve, and no human being should be sick when there is a way to care for him or her. If private families will not do that for the elderly, then some form of government should.
Every senior citizen in this nation could benefit from a real prescription drug benefit. But as it stands, neither candidate has offered anything substantial to our needy elderly population. If Medicare stays as it is now, in 20 or 30 years when the baby boomers become dependent the system, it will be overwhelmed and there will be a serious crisis on America's hands. This issue deserves national attention and real solutions, not empty plans made to secure a vote.
