Clinton Attacks GOP’s Drug Plan

President Clinton, on the campaign trail to steal some thunder from the Republican National Convention, argued Monday that the GOP’s tax-cutting fervor would leave no money to add prescription drugs as a new benefit under Medicare.

Hoping to make pharmaceutical coverage a successful defining issue for Democrats, the administration also issued a report showing that 5 million disabled persons are struggling to pay for their prescriptions.

The GOP prescription drug plan “relies on a trickle-down scheme that provides a subsidy for insurers but not a single dollar for middle-class seniors and people with disabilities,” the president told a group of about 150 older persons at a rally here.

Both parties now endorse the expansion of Medicare to cover pharmaceuticals used outside the hospital, potentially the most costly new addition since Medicare was established 35 years ago. But the approaches are very different. The GOP wants the coverage to be provided through policies purchased from insurance companies or other private-sector firms. The president and congressional Democrats want it handled directly through the Medicare system.

And the price tags are very different too. A bill passed by the GOP-controlled House would spend $159 billion over 10 years, while the Democrats want to allocate $296 billion for pharmaceuticals over the same period.

Clinton said that the GOP wants to spend too much for tax cuts and too little for social programs like Social Security and Medicare.

“Even by Congress’ own optimistic efforts . . . these tax bills leave nothing for Medicare, for lengthening the life of Social Security and for the drug program, or for education for our children. Plus which, they’d make it impossible for us to pay this country out of debt by 2012,” the president said, referring to his current budget projection of ending the national debt within 12 years.

The president was introduced by 81-year-old Sylvia Kessler, a widow from Tamarac, Fla., who works two part-time jobs to meet her $2,300 annual costs for prescription drugs.

“A bunch of baloney,” was the way she described the Republican proposal.

“Now, I’m president. I’m not supposed to say it’s a bunch of baloney, like Sylvia did,” the president said to laughter. But, he said, insurance companies themselves are unable to find a way to make the plan work financially.

The increasing use of drugs to deal with everything from high blood pressure to arthritis, and their rising prices, have put a financial strain on many of the 40 million Medicare beneficiaries, those over 65 and the disabled of all ages.

The 5 million disabled people on Medicare are especially vulnerable: About 10% of them had drug costs exceeding $2,500 in 1996, compared with just 3% of Medicare beneficiaries who are over 65, according to the administration report issued Monday. And because they are disabled and cannot work, they are less able to afford their prescriptions.

The drugs they need “aren’t only life-saving, they can help people with disabilities return to work and make even greater contributions to their communities,” Clinton said.

A separate report issued in Washington by Families USA, a liberal advocacy group friendly to the White House, says that drug spending for those 65 and older has surged 116%, growing from $559 in 1992 to $1,205 this year.

The study predicted that spending will climb to $2,180 per person in 10 years. Drugs’ share of total health costs, 7.4% in 1992, is now 10% and will climb to 13.3% by 2010, the report says.

Clinton’s trip to Florida was built around three fund-raising events that collected $1.1 million for Democratic Senate candidates.

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Gerstenzang reported from Tampa and Rosenblatt from Washington.