Subject: The Scary Republican Health Care Scam: I hope my fellow seniors will beware of the Medicare drug benefit deal being proposed in Congress. The proposal seems to further complicate the health care insurance system and put health care services in the hands of private insurers whose primary interest is in profits, not the health needs of seniors. For all Medicare recipients, the proposal will require extensive changes in their current supplementary policies, causing further confusion in an already difficult to understand health benefits system. New premiums will have to be paid. Most importantly, the proposal will include financial incentives to get seniors to move from traditional Medicare, where they have freedom of choice of providers, to restrictive managed care companies. One question that must be answered is whether a beneficiary choosing a managed care company will be subject to the prescription drugs listed in that companies formulary or whether all beneficiaries in or out of traditional Medicare will have access to the same prescription drugs. MH