Seniors attack Baucus bill

Sen. Max Baucus

benefit that passed Congress last week, spent his lunch hour Friday defending the bill in front of a

hostile crowd of senior citizens.

Baucus, one of two ranking Democrats chosen by the Republican Congress to help hammer out

prescription drug legislation, was in Montana late this week to explain the massive legislation to crowds in Great Falls, Helena and Billings.

The group of 50 seniors he encountered at Helena's Neighborhood Center Friday was the most

contentious crowd he has

experienced yet, his aides said.

‘‘I think this Medicare bill is a big farce,'' June Williams of Helena told Baucus during a brief comment period. ‘‘This is a sham bill that is being pushed down the throats of we seniors.''

Baucus acknowledged that the bill is not perfect, but said the bill is

better than nothing.

‘‘You have to remember this is a compromise,'' Baucus said. ‘‘You can't let perfect be the enemy of the good. You can never get perfect.''

This drug bill will give Montana's 145,000 seniors a prescription drug discount card in spring 2004 that could reduce their out-of-pocket drug costs by 15 percent. While most Medicare recipients will have to pay a $30 annual fee for the card, the state's 46,000 low-income

subscribers will receive a free card loaded with $600.

In 2006, the full prescription drug benefit will kick in. For $35 a month, subscribers will get a drug plan that will pay 75 percent of their drug costs after they meet a $250 deductible.

However, there is a gap in the drug coverage: Medicare will stop paying once a subscriber's out-of-pocket drug costs hit $2,250, and won't kick back in until a subscriber racks up $3,600 in expenses. This so called ‘‘catastrophic care coverage'' will then pay 95 percent of prescription drug costs above $3,600 a year.

The 46,000 low-income Montanans on Medicare will get a stronger drug benefit. Most seniors living at or near poverty won't pay any premiums or deductibles and won't face gaps in coverage. Their co-pays for drugs will range from $1 to $5.

But Helena senior Betty Beverly, who serves as the executive director of the Montana Senior Citizens Association, said the plan won't keep drug costs down. The Medicare bill prevents the government from negotiating lower drug prices for the program.

‘‘We don't see in the Medicare bill any cost containment,'' Beverly said.

Beverly also said that despite the prescription drug bill, American seniors will still be able to buy drugs cheaper in Canada. She knows of one Montana couple that saves $1,000 every three months purchasing medications north of the border.

Baucus acknowledged there are parts of the bill he doesn't like. The senator is opposed to the demonstration project slated for 2010 that could help move Medicare into the private sector. He also lamented that $400 billion - the ten-year cost of the prescription drug benefit - can only stretch so far.

‘‘We wish we had more money,'' Baucus said.

The only seniors who spoke at Friday's meeting were critical of the bill, which has been endorsed by AARP Montana, the Montana Medical Association and MHA, formerly known as the Montana Hospital Association.

When asked after the meeting what they thought of the bill, several elderly ladies said they don't know what to think of the complicated legislation. The bill is more than 1,000 pages lone..

One woman, who declined to be named, said she won't know what to think of the bill until the prescription drug benefit begins in 2006. And by then, she said, Congress could change it 10 times.

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