Congress' Scorecard For Seniors

By Sen. Patrick Leahy

The Essex Reporter - October 4, 2000

Today’s seniors are living longer and better lives than ever before. But after a lifetime of working and raising families, many older Americans who should be enjoying this time in their lives are worried about how they will make ends meet or what will happen to them if they get sick.

Quite simply, we can and we should be doing so much more for our seniors. Providing first-rate health care and making prescription drugs more affordable are just a few of the things we ought to be doing for our growing senior population.

The High Cost of Prescription Drugs

According to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), 80 percent of retirees take at least one prescription drug every day. There are 39 million seniors enrolled in Medicare who must pay out of pocket for their prescriptions. Those without prescription drug coverage, pay, on average, 83 percent more for their medicine than who have drug coverage.

Far too many seniors simply cannot afford the medicine they need to thrive or even to survive. I have heard stories of Vermont seniors cutting pills in half or not taking the drugs at all because the cost is just too high. Many seniors must make the choice between putting food on the table and purchasing medicine. No one in this country should have to forgo the life-saving drugs they need. We are not doing enough to help seniors shoulder this burden. It is time to pass a prescription drug benefit for Medicare.

I am a cosponsor of the Medicare Expansion for Needed Drugs (MEND) Act. This bill would create a universal but voluntary prescription drug benefit in the Medicare program. The benefit is designed to assist the three out of five Medicare beneficiaries who lack dependable, affordable prescription drug coverage and give them direct access to more affordable drugs and help with paying for these necessary medications. Beneficiaries who choose the voluntary prescription drug coverage would pay a premium that will cover half the cost of the program. In return, the new benefit would cover 50 percent of discounted drug costs up to $5,000 when fully phased in. The new benefit would also include coverage for catastrophic drug costs. Under the MEND act, a prescription drug benefit would be available to Medicare beneficiaries beginning Jan.1, 2002.

Unfortunately, the current leadership on Capitol Hill has not made a prescription drug benefit for seniors a priority. To improve the availability of affordable medications, I have cosponsored the "Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act." In the absence of a comprehensive prescription drug benefit, this bill will protect seniors from price discrimination and make prescription drugs available to Medicare beneficiaries at substantially reduced prices. It will allow Medicare beneficiaries to purchase prescription drugs at the low prices available to the federal government and other favored customers, such as large HMOs. Estimates show that this legislation could reduce the cost of prescription drug prices for seniors by more than 40 percent.

I have also worked hard to expand the availability of generic drugs to all consumers – one of the most direct ways to bring drug prices down. I am pleased to report that this year, once again, the efforts I have led to prevent several unwarranted drug patent extensions have been successful. If these drug patents were extended, consumers would pay billions more for widely used drugs like Claritin.

Social Security Earnings Test

Because people are living longer and healthier lives today, they are more likely to want to keep working past the age of 65. Until recently, these seniors who were not ready to retire often could not collect the full Social Security benefits to which they were entitled each year because their income exceeded an earnings limit, which was set during the Depression era. I am pleased that the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill in March to repeal this income limit, which has outlived its usefulness, for seniors who collect Social Security. This sensible action keeps experienced and productive workers in the labor force and improves the lives of seniors in Vermont and across the nation. The president signed this legislation into law in April and it is retroactive to Jan.1, 2000.

Medicare Reimbursement Rates

The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 made some important changes in Medicare payment policy but reduced the reimbursement to health care providers more significantly than expected. Since the BBA was enacted I have heard from hundreds of Vermonters – patients worried about their access to care as well as providers concerned about their continued ability to offer essential, quality services to the Medicare beneficiaries they serve. Last year, the Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 added back $16 billion over five years in payments to various Medicare providers, but it has become clear to Congress that serious shortfall problems remain for the health care communities in most states from the BBA of 1997. I have heard from Vermont hospitals, home health agencies, skilled nursing facilities, community health centers and many physicians about the need for further BBA relief. That is why I am pleased to be an original cosponsor of the Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 2000.

This bill is a package of Medicare payment adjustments amounting to about $80 billion over 10 years, as well as access-to-care provisions for Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. I am hopeful that Congress will pass this important relief package before the end of this session. All Vermonters deserve access to quality health care services, and I will continue to do all that I can to support the continued viability of Vermont’s health care providers.

The Senior Safety Act

As a former prosecutor, I know that many criminals prey on seniors and I know that our laws do not do enough to protect seniors. This is why I have introduced the Seniors Safety Act, to establish new protections and raise penalties for a wide variety of crimes against seniors – from telemarketing fraud to nursing home abuse. This bill is a comprehensive package of proposals designed to offer seniors increased security. We must give law enforcement officers the tools and support they need to prosecute those who take advantage of seniors.

Pension Protection

In recent years at least 325 companies, with over a million employees altogether, have adopted cash balance plans. This phenomena is the biggest development in the pension world in years. But there is a dark side to this corporate trend: the fact that many experienced workers face deep cuts in their promised pensions when their company switches from a traditional pension plan, which grows as a worker nears retirement to a cash balance plan, which accrues at a steady rate. It was IBM employees in Essex Junction who first made us aware of this situation. This issue touches the lives of thousands of workers whose hard-earned pension benefits have been pared back by their companies' decisions to make the switch. One worker told me she would have to work an additional six years just to receive the same benefits under the new cash balance plan that she was expecting to receive under the old one. These are workers who play by the rules and put away money for their retirement, and then wake up one day and find that the rules have suddenly been changed.

Last year, I introduced a bill with Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin to protect all employees from this "wear away" of their accrued benefits when their employers convert to cash-balance plans. I will continue to work to extend wear-away protection to the millions of employees who depend on their retirement benefits.

We should credit our seniors for their contribution to a legacy of economic prosperity and freedom. Americans over the age of 85 are the fastest-growing segment of our population. As this age group grows, we need to be more vigilant in our efforts to ensure fair treatment. This means controlling the cost of prescription drugs, providing access to quality health care and making certain that no one in our country has to make the choice between buying food or filling a prescription. These are top priorities of mine and they should be for the entire Congress.