GOP Unveils Prescription Drug Plan
House Republicans Wednesday unveiled the outlines of an election-year plan to make prescription drug insurance available to senior citizens, with the government subsidizing low-income individuals as well as those with unusually high expenses for medication.
"We don't want to see anyone denied these drugs because they are just too expensive," House Speaker Dennis Hastert said at a news conference on the Capitol steps.
He said the Republican-written budget making its way to passage sets aside nearly $40 billion over the next five years for the effort, in which private insurance companies would be free to offer a variety of policies for purchase. He said he hoped to have legislation on the floor of the House by summer.
Hastert sidestepped several questions about the details, saying final decisions remain to be worked out pending formal cost estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.
In political terms, the GOP proposal is designed to serve as a counterpoint to President Clinton's plan for optional, limited drug coverage available to all Medicare beneficiaries. The GOP prescription was unveiled two days before lawmakers depart Washington for a two-week spring break, and Republicans are expected to tout the proposal to constituents.
Hastert and other lawmakers said the legislation would be drafted to allow insurance companies to offer policies dedicated to prescription drugs, based on a model the government would develop. All Medicare-eligible individuals would be allowed to purchase the insurance, and the government would pay the full premium for everyone below a certain income level.
That level is still to be determined, but would include at least all senior citizens at or below the government's poverty level. A partial subsidy would be available for those with a slightly higher income, possibly up to 135 percent of 150 percent of the poverty level.
The government would step in to pick up the cost of very high drug expenses for anyone with insurance, regardless of their income, rather than have it borne by the insurance companies. Republicans declined to say at what point this "stop loss" provision would take effect.
Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., who chairs the Ways and Means health subcommittee, appeared to suggest that a compromise was possible between the GOP plan and the president's proposal.
"We don't think his prescription plan is a bad one. We think it's a pretty good one," he said. "We want to work with him to make it even better."
Key lawmakers have been laboring over the details in recent weeks, with Hastert playing an unusual, personal role. He has attended the meetings, and according to one participant who spoke on condition of anonymity, has prodded lawmakers to compromise their differences in the interests of a party position.
The prescription drug issue has emerged as a key election-year concern of both parties. Polls show it is opular with the voters, and the strong economy has produced a surplus that permits lawmakers to consider extending costly new coverage without having to find offsetting spending cuts elsewhere in the budget.
House Republicans were acting at the same time Sen. William Roth, R-Del., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sent letters to the members of his panel soliciting their views on the subject. "My purpose is to determine whether broad, bipartisan consensus can be developed with respect to legislative action this year in the major areas of Medicare reform, including views with respect to the inclusion of a prescription drug benefit," he wrote.