Issue Position: Prescription Drugs

Issue Position

The Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 established a drug benefit that provides too little help for seniors' drug costs and is delivered only through private plans that have broad discretion to determine what coverage to offer, what prices to charge and which drugs to cover. At the same time, the Act made significant structural changes to the Medicare program, providing substantial overpayments to private managed care plans. Implementation began in January 2006 and has revealed many of the shortcomings of the private plan approach and other provision of the law. Congress must enact improvements to the Part D prescription drug benefit and eliminate the overpayments to managed care plans in order to put traditional Medicare back on a level playing field with the private health plans.

If elected, I will support efforts to rein in rising drug prices, starting with requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to use the bargaining power of 40 million Medicare beneficiaries to get better drug prices.

If elected, I will work to strengthen traditional Medicare and shore up program financing, beginning with preventing private plans known as Medicare Advantage plans from undermining the program through inflated payments totaling $150 billion over 10 years and "cherry picking" the healthiest seniors? I would also support repealing the accounting trick known as the 45 percent "trigger," which is designed to create a funding crisis that would require cuts be made.

If elected, I will work to fix the prescription drug benefit to make coverage more affordable and stable, including requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices and providing beneficiaries with an option to get their drug coverage directly from Medicare rather than a private plan. Would you support using the savings from drug price negotiation and eliminating the Medicare Advantage plan overpayments to fill the gap in coverage and eliminate the asset test that has kept many low income individuals from enrolling and qualifying for financial help with their costs? Would you support repealing the income test for Part B premiums, which undermines the social insurance foundation of the program.

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