Neil's Spotlight Health insurance reform impact on seniors
August 31, 2009
Here's a look at some news stories that report on the impact health insurance reform would have on senior citizens.
Health Bill Would Cut Drug Spending for Many on Medicare, Budget Office Says Medicare beneficiaries would often have to pay higher premiums for prescription drug coverage, but many would see their total drug spending decline, so they would save money as a result of health legislation moving through the House, the Congressional Budget Office said in a recent report.
Nancy LeaMond, an executive vice president of AARP, the lobby for older Americans, welcomed the report as evidence that “health care reform will lower drug spending.” “Opponents of reform may use today’s projections to try to stall reform,” Ms. LeaMond said, “but we hope they will look at all the facts before jumping to a false conclusion.”
The House bill would require drug companies to provide larger discounts, or rebates, on medications dispensed to low-income people enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. It would also require drug makers to provide 50 percent discounts on brand-name drugs in the doughnut hole, until the coverage gap was eliminated… [New York Times 8/31/09]
Senior Groups Reject Health Care 'Scare Tactics' At high noon on one of the hottest days of the summer, a small group of senior citizens sweated it out in front of state GOP headquarters in Raleigh, N.C., asking the Republican Party to stop using what they called "scare tactics" to turn senior citizens against overhauling the health care system. It could be the start of a silver backlash against what some say is a misinformation campaign about health care reform.
That's where Brooks Jackson comes in. He's the director of Factcheck.org at the Annenberg School of Public Policy. He says when health care was debated in the 90s, most of the misinformation came from industry opponents, like drug and insurance companies. But not this time. "The attacks are coming from ideological groups and individuals who are really responsible to no one but their donors," he says. "I think there is something of an incentive here for them to make as inflammatory a claim as they can manage, regardless of what the facts are, because it helps keep the donations flowing."
Senior citizen Betty Zimmerman says she's trying to fight back. She spends a lot of time talking — to friends, neighbors, anyone who'll listen to her — about what is and is not in the health care proposals. [NPR 6/30/09]
The GOP's about-face on Medicare Now, just when we thought we'd heard everything, comes the chairman of the Republican Party with an audacious act of political cross-dressing. Michael Steele announced last week that his party would henceforth embrace the mission of defending Medicare, the federal health insurance program for senior citizens, against anyone who wants to limit its rapidly growing spending.
The about-face has left the GOP chairman struggling to articulate a lucid policy. He acknowledges that without any change, "Medicare will go deep into the red in less than a decade." But he nevertheless insists that limits shouldn't be imposed. And he certainly isn't advocating tax increases to plug the gap… Weirdest of all, even as he vowed to "protect Medicare," Steele denounced it as a "single-payer program" and "a very good example of what we should not have happen with all our healthcare."
Steele hasn't let facts stand in the way of promoting his "Seniors' Healthcare Bill of Rights." He claimed that Democrats want to ration heart surgery based on age -- granting operations to the young but denying them to the old. (An aide said he was referring to Obama advisor Ezekiel Emanuel, who has recommended using age as one of several criteria for allocating "very scarce medical interventions such as organs" -- not heart surgery, which is anything but scarce.) And he accused the Department of Veterans Affairs of "encouraging [veterans] to commit suicide" in a manual on living wills. (I've read the manual; it doesn't even come close.)… [LA Times 8/30/09]
A Missing Ingredient in Health-Care Coverage—Washington Post Ombudsman “The Post publishes health-care reform stories almost every day as it tracks the twists and turns of the epic debate. So it's surprising to hear from so many readers who ask: Why hasn't The Post explained what this is all about?
"Your paper's coverage continues in the 'horse race' mode," complained Bill Byrd of Falls Church. "Who's up, who's down . . . political spin, personal political attacks.”
“In my examination of roughly 80 A-section stories on health-care reform since July 1, all but about a dozen focused on political maneuvering or protests. The Pew Foundation's Project for Excellence in Journalism had a similar finding. Its recent month-long review of Post front pages found 72 percent of health-care stories were about politics, process or protests.
“"The politics has been covered, but all of this is flying totally over the heads of people," said Trudy Lieberman, a contributing editor to Columbia Journalism Review, who has been tracking coverage by The Post and other news organizations. "They have not known from Day One what this was about."”
“Kaiser's president and CEO, Drew Altman, worries that the media have devoted too much attention to "accusation and refutation" stories instead of focusing on the "core questions about health-care reform that the public wants answered."
“By "gravitating toward controversies" such as the recent boisterous town hall meetings on health care, he said, the media may "unwittingly" be allowing coverage to be shaped by evocative rhetoric and images.
“Most readers who have contacted the ombudsman identify themselves as senior citizens and rely on the printed Post. The Kaiser survey found those older than 65 are the most confused by the issue.
I think they want more glossaries explaining basic terms, easily digestible Q&As, short sidebars that summarize complex concepts and graphics that decipher complicated data. And they want stories that say what health-care reform will mean to them.” [Washington Post Ombudsman, 8/30/09]
Information provided by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
