Elderly in Poll Back Catastrophic Care, Complain of Cost

Most older Americans generally support Medicare’s new coverage of catastrophic health care costs, although most of them believe that the price is too high, according to a poll released Friday by the American Assn. of Retired Persons.

Of those over 65 who participated in the survey, 65% said that they support the new program. At the same time, 63% said that the costs are too high considering the benefits received.

“Almost anyone of any age would say that the cost of health care is too high,” said John C. Rother, a director of the 30-million-member AARP, which has strongly supported the catastrophic care plan and lobbied for its passage in Congress. But “they basically accept the funding mechanism,” he said.

Capitol Hill Deluged

In the last few weeks, Capitol Hill has been deluged by mail and telephone calls urging repeal of the surtax on Americans over 65 that finances the new Medicare benefits. In addition, 58 members of Congress, including House Republican leader Robert H. Michel of Illinois, have signed petitions requesting immediate House hearings on the issue.

The surtax--a roughly 15% surcharge on federal income tax payments--falls on taxpayers over 65 who pay at least $150 in federal income taxes. The maximum surtax, which will typically be paid by the elderly whose incomes exceed $70,000, is $800 for a single person this year and $1,600 for a couple.

Rother said that congressional supporters have indicated little desire to change the plan’s financing system, although he said that “fine-tuning” of the program is likely. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) Thursday called critics of the plan “a vocal minority” and said that he does not expect the criticism to result in a change in premiums.

“What you have is wealthier people not wanting to pay the additional premium and wanting it to be more heavily subsidized by other taxpayers,” he said.

California Rep. Pete Stark (D-Oakland) hailed the survey Friday as doing an “outstanding job of informing the elderly of the benefits of the catastrophic law.” Stark, a strong congressional supporter of the plan, is chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on health.

“There has been some grumbling in recent weeks about the fairness of the financing mechanism,” he said. “But, when individuals get a chance to look at the whole package, they like what they see.”

The health insurance plan, which began going into effect on Jan. 1 and will be phased in over the next two years, currently extends Medicare coverage for long hospital stays and increases the amount of coverage for short-term nursing needs.

Rother said that the large number of people concerned about the cost does not invalidate the general support that was indicated for the insurance plan. He added that only half of the people surveyed said they were familiar with the insurance program.

“People are forming opinions on the basis of gross misinformation,” he said. “There is a lot of confusion out there.”

Rother said that the AARP would “redouble” its efforts to educate the public about the specifics of the insurance plan.

The poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for the over-65 subgroup, was conducted by telephone Dec. 2 to Dec. 18. It included 1,750 persons over the age of 44 and a subgroup of 657 persons age 65 and older.