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Seniors
gather to hear Evans in Rock Island
Evans,
D-Ill., told the seniors, who gathered at the Project NOW Senior Center in
Rock Island, that the Republican plan in the House would leave seniors
with large gaps in prescription coverage or without coverage. It also
would fail to control the rise of prescription-drug costs while allowing
private insurance companies to determine the benefits and premiums offered
to seniors, he said. Under
the House GOP bill, insurers can vary their benefit levels and prices
around the country and limit access to specific drugs and pharmacies. Also
under the bill, seniors would pay the first $250 of their drug costs, then
20 percent of annual costs up to $2,000 — figures that received gasps
from some at the center. One
of them, Dorothy Winstein, 78, of Rock Island, said that should she become
a widow, she will not be able to afford the many prescription medications
she has to take every day. A bill proposed by House Republicans for a
prescription-drug plan privatizing Medicare, she said, would make things
worse. “My
mother died last year at the age of 97,” she said. “She lived on
Social Security and would never have been able to afford her medication.
There needs to be a better plan to help seniors.” Evans
said he supports a Democratic prescription-drug plan included as part of
the Medicare program with no gaps in coverage. It also would help reduce
prescription-drug prices by giving the secretary of Health and Human
Services the opportunity to negotiate fair prices, he said. Evans
encouraged the seniors to lobby for a fairer plan. “The
government should work for you,” he said. “The GOP plan is the wrong
prescription for seniors. It was written to make insurers wealthy rather
than make seniors healthy. We have to fulfill our promises to seniors.
That’s why I’ll continue to fight for an affordable, guaranteed plan
under Medicare.” Cherie
Black can be contacted at (563) 383-2329 or cblack@qctimes.com.
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
