MEDICARE WEB SITE TO COMPARE DRUG PRICES
Medicare will soon publish detailed information comparing the prices of most prescription drugs. Economists and federal officials say the information, intended to help Medicare beneficiaries, could also be extremely useful to other consumers, as well as to private insurers and employers who provide drug coverage to employees and retirees. The data will be available in late April on the Medicare Web site, http://www.medicare.gov. The site will list the prices for various dosages of specific drugs at retail pharmacies in or near a given ZIP code. If a brand-name drug has generic equivalents, their prices will be displayed as well. Medicare officials said the Web site would also show prices for competing brand-name drugs used to treat the same condition. Thus, a person shopping for Lipitor could see the prices for other cholesterol-lowering agents like Zocor and Crestor. Beneficiaries will be able to sign up for the cards in May. The site will list the retail prices for different drugs under different cards to help beneficiaries choose among some 49 cards offered by 28 companies. However, participating companies will be able to change prices and drugs covered weekly by simply posting the change on the Medicare Web site. The Bush administration claims the sponsors of drug discount cards, which will sell for up to $30 per year in 2004 and 2005, have negotiated savings of 10 percent to 25 percent off retail prices. Critics predict savings at the lower end of that range. People with Medicare will also be able to call a toll-free number, 800/MEDICARE (633-4227), to obtain prices for prescription drugs. Information will also be available at participating pharmacies and through state counseling services. Don’t forget to check with your local union or employer health benefits representative to see if the card will provide coverage you don’t currently have.

SENIOR, PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR MEDICARE LAW FALLING
Public support is dropping for the Medicare prescription-drug law pushed by President Bush and passed by the Republican-controlled Congress last year, a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll released March 31 shows. Support among Americans of all ages has declined. Just 35 percent of those polled approve of President Bush's handling of Medicare, while 55 percent disapprove. That reflects a steady drop over the past year, as healthcare has become Bush's most troublesome issue in terms of public opinion. According to the poll of 1,001 adults taken March 26-30, 41 percent of the public favors the new law, compared with 52 percent in December 2003. Among respondents ages 65 and older, 36 percent favor the new law, compared with 46 percent in December 2003. Overall, 40 percent of respondents believe that the Bush administration deliberately misled the public about the cost of the new law. Thirty-five percent of respondents believe the new law will help seniors who have problems paying for prescription drugs, while 20 percent believe it will hurt them. Seventeen percent of respondents believe the law will help Medicare's future financial stability, while 27 percent believe the law will hurt it. Among respondents ages 65 and older, only 16 percent believe they understand the changes to Medicare very well, while 42 percent say they understand the changes somewhat, 34 percent not too well and 7 percent not at all.

More info: http://www.usatoday.com/news/polls/tables/live/2004-03-30-medicare-poll

MEDICARE PAYS PRIVATE PLANS 7 PERCENT MORE
The federal government will pay Medicare private plans 7 percent more than it would cost to treat beneficiaries under the traditional, fee-for-service program, according to a report released April 8 by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an independent federal advisory board. The report found that in some cases, payments to HMOs exceeded costs in traditional Medicare by more than 20 percent. The higher payments to private plans result from changes under the new Medicare law. Bill Pierce, an HHS spokesperson, said that HMOs often cover preventive services and prescription drugs, which traditional Medicare will not cover until 2006. Critics claim that the new report is further evidence that the Bush administration will provide incentives to help managed care plans lure seniors away from traditional Medicare by offering more services and lower premiums. U.S. Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) said, "Time and again, objective analysis shows that HMOs and private plans cost Medicare more. The bottom line is that no private company can offer the same benefits for less than Medicare." While 4.6 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in HMOs, the administration anticipates that about a third of Medicare beneficiaries will enroll over the next decade. Between 1999 and the beginning of 2003, Medicare HMOs ended coverage for 2.4 million members.

KENNEDY BILL WOULD CUT SUBSIDIES TO PRIVATE INSURERS
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and several other Senate Democrats have introduced a bill (S. 2300) to eliminate some of the financial incentives for private insurers under the new Medicare law. The legislation would reduce additional funding earmarked for private insurers participating in Medicare in order to extend the solvency of Medicare’s hospital trust fund beyond the newly projected date of 2019. The bill would eliminate extra payments to plans that enroll healthier-than-average beneficiaries; limit payments to insurers to 100 percent of the Medicare fee-for-service cost per beneficiary, instead of the average 109 percent called for under the new law; repeal the $12 billion "stabilization" fund that would increase payments to insurers to encourage them to participate in Medicare; and kill a pilot program under which traditional, fee-for-service Medicare would begin directly competing with private plans in certain regions in 2010. A number of Senate Democrats cosponsored the measure: Sens. Bingaman, Pryor, Hollings, Edwards, Mikulski, Boxer, Corzine, Lautenberg, Durbin and Stabenow.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS HALT INVESTIGATION OF LOWBALL MEDICARE ESTIMATE
House Republicans on April 1 shut down an inquiry by Democrats into whether the Bush administration acted illegally or inappropriately last year when it withheld from Congress its estimates of the true cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill. At issue are allegations that then-Medicare Administrator Thomas A. Scully threatened to fire his top actuary if he gave lawmakers his analyses showing the costs would be one-third higher than administration officials were saying publicly. The decision all but ensured that two individuals central to the controversy—Scully and White House aide Doug Badger—would not testify before Congress. The Health and Human Services Department is conducting a separate internal investigation into the matter, and Democratic lawmakers have requested civil and criminal inquiries. White House spokesperson Trent Duffy cited executive privilege as the reason Badger would not appear. Scully, now a consultant, said he was unable to appear before the committee because he had been traveling.

MEDICARE'S HIDDEN BONANZA FOR J. PATRICK ROONEY
There is little doubt about the biggest short-term winner in the new Medicare law. He is J. Patrick Rooney, a major Republican campaign donor and huge supporter of privatization of both health insurance and public schools. In 1991, he founded the first privately-funded school voucher program, the Educational CHOICE Charitable Trust, in Indianapolis. Rooney later created CEO America, a national private school voucher program funded by the Walton Family Foundation, which operates Wal-Mart, the largest and one of the most aggressive anti-union employers in the country. Rooney has done more than anyone else to make health savings accounts (HSAs) a reality. These accounts allow employers to substitute a cash payment each year tied to a health insurance plan with a high deductible providing catastrophic coverage. Because of the high deductible and the temptation to roll over the money not spent each year, critics fear that HSAs will eventually encourage employees to skip needed healthcare, undermine group insurance and allow employers to drastically reduce health insurance coverage. Rooney is the chair emeritus of the Indianapolis-based Golden Rule Insurance Co., which has been selling HSAs through a now-expired pilot program that he helped convince Congress to approve in 1996. Just days before the new Medicare bill passed, UnitedHealth Group, the largest insurer in America, paid $500 million in cash for Rooney's family-owned company, a move that analysts say was directly tied to the Medicare bill's provisions broadening the market for HSAs. In their 10-year campaign to promote HSAs, Rooney's family, companies, and employees have given $3.6 million to political candidates and committees, with 90 percent going to Republicans. Rooney and his companies gave another $2.2 million to Republican organizations, including $121,000 to help pay for President Bush's Florida recount battle, and nearly $1.9 million for a group called the Republican Leadership Coalition, which ran attack ads against Al Gore during the 2000 campaign. In the meantime, the Golden Rule division of UnitedHealth has gotten a jump on the competition, having rolled out new health savings accounts within weeks of the bill's passage. By then, UnitedHealth's stock had already jumped 9 percent. "We know this market exceptionally well," Golden Rule's top lobbyist, Brian McManus, boasted. "We pioneered it."

AFT COALITION BATTLES FOR FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
The AFT has joined more than 30 senior and retiree groups in a letter calling on House members to preserve vital domestic programs such as Medicaid by refusing to approve another $138 billion in Bush tax cuts tilted largely to wealthy Americans. If passed, the changes would result in a cut of $2.2 billion this year from Medicaid even as healthcare costs continue to skyrocket and state budgets are reeling. The letter, signed by some 30 members of the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO), also said that the move would increase the federal deficit by $247 billion over five years and cost $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The change in House rules, which is the target of the letter, exempts $1.2 trillion in tax cuts--and any future tax cuts--from having to be offset by other tax increases or by cuts in existing discretionary programs such as Medicaid and the Older Americans Act. This would leave Congress the choice between new tax increase--which the Bush administration has ruled out--and cuts in defense, Social Security and Medicare. In addition, spending cuts of $120 billion over five years would be required in domestic discretionary programs such as veterans' healthcare, medical research and housing. LCAO urged the House to require any tax cuts be offset and to eliminate all Medicaid cuts. In a second letter, the AFT and other LCAO members urged Maine Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, key figures in any budget compromise, to reject any House-Senate agreement that failed to include budget offsets and Medicaid cuts.

APRIL FOOLS' FACTS
With April Fools' Day just behind us, the joke for the past three years may have been on the American people. We’ve been told that the state of our economy is solid, our pensions secure, our healthcare affordable, our environment protected and the opportunity for education guaranteed. Take this quiz to find out what’s really happening. All questions are true/false.

Unfortunately, it's no April Fool: All of these statements are true.

STAY AT HOTEL ROYAL PLAZA AND SAVE BIG
AFT members can save big when you stay at Hotel Royal Plaza in Orlando, Fla. Hotel Royal Plaza is unionized and located in the heart of downtown Disney. The hotel offers complimentary transportation to the Disney theme parks. If you're planning a trip to Disney, this is the hotel for you. Hotel Royal Plaza is offering a special AFT 2004 Union Leisure Rate to you and your family. Simply call 800/248-7890, ext. 2500, to check rates, or visit www.royalplaza.com to see this great hotel right in downtown Disney. Call early to secure your discount and rooms. Happy traveling!

QUOTE OF NOTE
"Every other country negotiates with the pharmaceutical companies. You have to have some checks and balances on the pharmaceuticals."

Sen. James Cain (R), Chair
Louisiana Senate Insurance Committee

WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/catalog/alpha.html
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has excellent materials on its Web site featuring a variety of topics, including nutrition. This site connects directly to a wide range of brochures you can download and reproduce free of charge.