Medicare Part D Will Be Bad Medicine for Wisconsin
Sadly, the Bush administration has put politics ahead of Wisconsin seniors.
Despite bipartisan pleading, countless letters and numerous phone calls from citizens and legislators across Wisconsin, the Bush administration has refused to compromise – and will force Wisconsin to end the SeniorCare prescription drug program.
SeniorCare provides financial assistance for Wisconsin seniors to obtain the life-saving prescription drugs. More than 110,000 seniors have used SeniorCare in the last five years to make their medications more affordable.
Wisconsin’s SeniorCare has been an unparalleled success. A report by AARP reports 94 percent of Wisconsin seniors get a better deal from SeniorCare than the federal Medicare Part D program.
SeniorCare is a better deal for Wisconsin seniors and a better deal for the federal government, as every Wisconsinite who takes advantage of SeniorCare instead of Medicare Part D saves the U.S. government just under $500.
In 2006, Wisconsin was able to provide $200 million in prescription drug relief to our seniors. Our seniors should be paying less, not more their prescription drug costs.
That’s a problem for the Bush administration. States are likely to try and abandon Medicare Part D if effective solutions, like SeniorCare, are out there for other states to model.
Not only is Medicare Part D bad medicine for Wisconsin seniors, but also there is no guarantee the program will continue to exist as costs rise and the Baby Boomers begin retirement.
David Walker, who as comptroller general of the United States is the nation’s top accountant said just last month, the Medicare Part D “drug bill was probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s.”
Walker told 60 Minutes the federal government woefully undersold the long-term cost of Medicare Part D and will force future Congresses to either significantly hike taxes or end the prescription drug program. The plan’s cost has already ballooned 33 percent from the Bush administration’s original price tag.
The Medicare Part D program, which passed with a one-vote margin by Tom DeLay and Congressional Republicans, will increase Medicare obligations by 40 percent, according to Walker. To pay for the plan, the federal government needs to already be investing $8 trillion in treasury bonds – but to date there is not one dime in place.
Short-term fiscal irresponsibility is not going to solve our long-term health care woes.
As Chair of the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee, I have been holding hearings around Wisconsin to ensure health care in our state is accessible and affordable.
The skyrocketing costs of health care are a threat to our way of life in Wisconsin. Families, single people, seniors, small businesses, mom and pop operations, large corporations, local governments, organizations – everyone is affected by the health care crisis.
With SeniorCare, Wisconsin had one piece of the puzzle solved. The Bush administration’s willingness to put its own political interests before Wisconsin’s seniors should not be forgotten.
As always, if you have questions about this issue or any other concerns facing the state, call my office at 608-266-6670.
