THE CHERRY PICKING OF MEDICARE---ANOTHER PART OF THE REPUBLI-CON

Republicans may finally be moving toward the Democratic drug benefit plan. The Republican notion of forcing seniors out of Medicare and into HMOs as a carrot for the Republican prescription drug benefit program has been opposed by Democrats who claim that the Republican plan would leave seniors with huge increases in their insurance premiums and co pays or out in the cold all together.

A recent report released the other day by the nonpartisan National Academy of Social Science, a nonprofit think tank, seemed to support Medicare and the Democrat's position. They claim that the Republican positon would harm seniors and that traditional Medicare with its stability and choice of doctors--for a sizable segment of seniors who are too ill or easily confused by change would not be good for seniors.

The fear here is that healthier seniors would migrate to less expensive private plans leaving less healthy beneficiaries in traditional Medicare. Thus the Republican demand that traditional Medicare be required to compete directly with private plans as the price of a drug benefit plan which would allow "for profit plans" to cherry pick those less likely to need benefits would destroy Medicare. Of course when these seniors needed expensive services from the "for profit HMOs" they would simply be priced out and dropped into the government plan. Who do you think these greedy "for profit" HMOs will be donating money to in the next election cycle?

Health benefits ought to be a basic human right that society owes to all. What we have now is health care that is rationed by an ability to pay...the working poor and unisured are left out. Republicans under BUSH THE LESSER simply wish to undermine the community obligation that we all have to our seniors and allow business interests to cherry pick out of the Medicare system those less likely to need health services. This would mean huge increases in Medicare premiums for those left in the Medicare Plan and for those who migrated to private HMOs when they got sick their premiums would rise so high they would be forced out and back into the government plan. Thanks to the Democrats in the Senate this Republi CON will not fly.