Experts Debate: Which Man Has the Best Prescription Plan?

On today's Early Show, Bob Moffit and Diane Archer debated the merits of the plans of the two presidential candidates regarding providing prescription drug coverage for seniors.

Bob Moffit is director of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, DC. He says he believes George W. Bush's plan is the better option. Diane Archer is president of the Medicare Rights Center. She says she believes Al Gore's plan will help more people on Medicare get prescription drug coverage.

Both the Heritage Foundation and the Medicare Rights Center are national not-for-profit organizations.

According to the Gore campaign, the cost of the Medicare prescription drug benefit is $338 billion (Congressional Budget Office estimate). Gore's plan requires beneficiaries to pay 50% of the cost of the drugs with no deductible. The maximum Medicare benefit would total $2,000 in the first year and increase to $5,000 in 2008. Seniors with yearly incomes of $12,000 or below (130% of poverty) do not have to pay for their prescription drugs under Gore's Medicare plan. Gore is opposed to medical savings accounts.

Under Bush's plan, the government would provide subsidies that the elderly could use to buy private insurance. His plan would cost $198 billion over 10 years. The government would approve the private plans, and government subsidy would cover the full cost of drug coverage for elderly people whose incomes are 135% of the poverty line (about $11,300) or less. For those making $11,300-14,600 the government would provide a partial (yet to be specified) subsidy toward the cost of their drug coverage.
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