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Aarp spends 7m ad campaign supporting gop bill { November 19 2003 }

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   http://nashuatelegraph.com/Main.asp?SectionID=25&SubSectionID=354&ArticleID=93827

Bush is supporting the Medicare drug benefit bill, which the national AARP is backing with a nationwide $7 million advertising campaign.

http://nashuatelegraph.com/Main.asp?SectionID=25&SubSectionID=354&ArticleID=93827

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Democrats blast Medicare drug proposal

By KEVIN LANDRIGAN Telegraph Staff
landrigank@telegraph-nh.com


BEDFORD – Five of six Democratic presidential candidates Tuesday condemned a proposal to give senior citizens a prescription drug benefit under Medicare.

“This is a bad bill. It’s a Republican bill, therefore it’s a bad bill. Worst of all it was written by the pharmaceutical companies and the HMOs, that’s what you need to understand,’’ said Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt.

President Bush served as the main target of all the candidates during a 90-minute forum sponsored by the state chapter of the AARP at the Sheraton Wayfarer.

But four of the other five candidates launched attacks on the Democrat well ahead in New Hampshire primary polls – former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean – on Medicare, tax cuts, Social Security and campaign finance reform.

Bush is supporting the Medicare drug benefit bill, which the national AARP is backing with a nationwide $7 million advertising campaign.

“It gives billions of dollars in giveaways to HMOs, money that could in fact be used to provide a better benefit for seniors,’’ charged North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman said he needs to do more research on the 1,100-page bill before deciding if he will support it.

“I want to take a few days. I’m not going to give a knee-jerk, reflex action and say, ‘No way,’’’ Lieberman said.

The bill would give the first-ever drug benefit for 80,000 seniors who live in this state, Lieberman said.

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said the benefit should be available long before its 2006 starting date, and it does nothing to make the purchase of drugs any cheaper for consumers.

“What is happening in America today is we have a president today in the pockets of powerful interests, and we deserve a president who is going to give America a real deal rather than a raw deal,’’ Kerry said.

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark said the bill guarantees insurance companies profits that are too excessive.

“This bill is a Trojan horse,’’ he said.

“If we reject it, we’ll get a better one.’’

Dean said the bill doesn’t give enough assistance to seniors who spend more than $200 a month for prescription drugs.

“It helps the people who don’t need the help and it cuts you off when you do need the help,’’ he said.

Under the bill, recipients would have the option of signing up for a drug plan under Medicare or join a private health plan by paying $35 per month and a $275 yearly deductible.

The agreement also would try to steer more Medicare patients into private health plans through an experiment in six metropolitan areas, where the original program would be in direct competition with private insurance plans.

Kerry and Gephardt repeatedly criticized statements that Dean made in 1995 about congressional Republican efforts to trim the growth of Medicare spending.

“Dick Gephardt and I and others stood up and fought Newt Gingrich, and I’m sorry to say Governor Dean was on the other side. That’s just reality,’’ Kerry said.

Dean defended his support for Medicare as the only doctor running for president.

“I am the only one who is up here who has ever taken care of a patient. I have no intention of cutting their health benefits,’’ Dean said, waving around a stethoscope.

Former President Bill Clinton signed legislation to reduce Medicare spending growth in 1997, Dean said.

“The truth is I did not side with Newt Gingrich,’’ Dean said

Gephardt said Clinton’s support for the concept is no excuse, and Congress has responded by changing that law three times.

“I didn’t support that one, either,’’ Gephardt said.

Kerry criticized Dean’s past support for raising the age for those eligible to get Social Security.

Edwards and Lieberman both jumped on Dean’s decision to raise unlimited amounts of money and not abide by federal campaign spending limits. Kerry has taken the same position as Dean. For the second straight election, Bush will not limit his spending, and Dean said no Democrat can win limiting theirs in 2004.

Edwards strongly disagreed.

“What George Bush is doing is wrong. We should not be imitating and emulating what George Bush did in 2000,’’ he said.

Clark was the only rival not to criticize Dean, but he called on both Dean and Kerry to voluntarily abide by the $729,000 spending limit for the New Hampshire primary.

“Let’s have a level-playing field,’’ he said.

Kevin Landrigan can be reached at 224-8804





6 democratic candidates attack medicare measure { November 19 2003 }
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