Governor Bush’s
Approach
A Commitment That Must be
Kept: Governor Bush’s Medicare plan will
provide every senior with access to an affordable health plan that covers
prescription drugs and other important benefits. Medicare will cover the entire cost of a
health plan, including prescription drug expenses, for low-income seniors. Governor
Bush’s plan will guarantee seniors the benefits they are entitled to today, and will
allow seniors the option, if they wish, to stay in their existing Medicare plan without
any changes.
Comprehensive Reform: Governor Bush’s plan will also modernize Medicare to better
serve seniors and to ensure the system’s continued financial health. Despite
Medicare’s success in providing health care to seniors, the Medicare system has not
kept pace with 21st century medicine, is burdened by bureaucratic complexity, and faces
insolvency.
- Medicare’s benefit package is
outdated, covering neither prescription drugs nor routine services such as annual
physicals, vision tests and hearing aids.
- Due to Medicare’s inefficient approval
system for new technology, seniors are denied state-of-the-art care routinely covered by
private insurers.
- Medicare’s regulations are 3 times
longer than the U.S. tax code, driving physicians from the program and encouraging waste
and fraud.
The financial health of
Medicare is in jeopardy. Medicare will start to run huge deficits in 2010 and will be
bankrupt by 2025.
Governor Bush’s
Medicare Proposal
Governor Bush’s plan would
build on the proposal of the recent Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare and
bipartisan legislation in the Senate. These proposals are based on the health plan enjoyed
by all federal employees and Members of Congress, who are able to choose from a wide range
of comprehensive health plans that best fit their needs. Specifically, Governor
Bush’s proposal will:
- Guarantee that every senior remains
entitled to the same benefits they are entitled to today. Seniors can choose to stay in
their current Medicare system without any changes.
- Give seniors the opportunity to select
a plan that best fits their health care needs. Medicare recipients will have a choice of
health plans offering expanded benefits, including prescription drug coverage. Seniors
will be able to change their health plan annually if they are dissatisfied with their
coverage.
- Cover the full cost of health coverage
including prescription drug coverage for seniors with incomes at or below 135% of poverty
(currently $11,300 for individual seniors and $15,200 for couples).
- Cover some of the cost of
prescription drug coverage for individual seniors with incomes between 135% of poverty and
175% of poverty (currently $14,600 for individual seniors and $19,700 for couples).
- Pay at least 25% of the premium costs for
prescription drug coverage for all seniors.
- Cover any catastrophic Medicare expenses in
excess of $6000 annually for all seniors.
Governor Bush will also
introduce legislation to provide immediately $48 billion of direct support to states for
four years. This “Immediate Helping Hand” support will allow states to
immediately:
- Cover the full cost of prescription
drugs for seniors with incomes at or below 135% of poverty (currently $11,300 for
individual seniors and $15,200 for couples).
- Cover some of the cost of prescription drugs
for seniors with incomes between 135% of poverty and 175% of poverty (currently $14,600
for individual seniors and $19,700 for couples), and
- Cover any prescription drug costs in excess
of $6000 annually for all seniors.
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