Editorial: Letter to Bush: Don't cheat seniors

In last Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President George W. Bush outlined a few key initiatives. A number of them are major undertakings: supporting the development of hydrogen-powered cars; attacking the AIDS epidemic in Africa and the Caribbean; and creating jobs for every U.S. citizen, effectively ending unemployment.

Another major plan wants to reform Medicare. Any reforms will affect seniors, and seniors make up a higher percentage of the nation’s population every day. There is some confusion, though, as to how the Medicare reforms will play out. One of the central issues: affordable prescription drug coverage for the elderly.

The president’s plan, according to some administration officials, will only deliver a prescription drug plan to those who choose a new Medicare program the government plans to offer. That new program, according to preliminary reports, will allow seniors to choose from several privately run health care plans, but will mean higher out-of-pocket costs for those who choose the plan.

But the president’s plan doesn’t promise affordable prescription drugs for the seniors left in the original Medicare and the Medicare+Choice program. That is a serious shortcoming. All seniors need to have access to prescription drugs at affordable rates.

Fortunately, politicians have already expressed doubt about the president’s plans. Senator Charles Grassley, a republican from Iowa who heads the Senate Finance Committee, recently was quoted in the Wall Street Journal. “I won’t draw lines on drug coverage,” he said. “All seniors should have access to affordable prescription-drug coverage, regardless of the choice they make.”

Unfortunately, this is only the beginning of the can of worms that President Bush has opened. All of this talk has done nothing to consider the money it will cost to run these plans, let alone Medicare. Medicare costs, according to the Congressional Budget Office, are expected to rise 7 percent every year if it is left alone. If these new changes are put into effect, the costs could rise even more.

A few questions come to light: Why is the president trying to support additional tax refunds? Why not raise taxes, especially on the ultrarich? (Is he trying to follow his father’s promise: “Read my lips: no new taxes”?) Perhaps the middle class will also have to shoulder some of the bill for Medicare.

We at the Horizon hope that President Bush will consider all of these issues when crafting his plan. We hope that, like President Bush’s drastic plans to reform social security, Congress will do its best to move cautiously.