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Candidates take on aarp over drug bill

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Posted on Wed, Nov. 19, 2003

Candidates take on AARP over drug bill
By Holly Ramer
The Associated Press


BEDFORD, N.H. - Turning on their host, several of the Democratic presidential candidates scolded the powerful AARP for endorsing a Republican-backed Medicare prescription drug bill that they argued would do long-term damage to the program.

Six of the nine candidates participated in the forum, sponsored by the 35-million-member AARP, which represents Americans age 50 or older. AARP's sponsorship of the forum didn't stop the Democrats from assailing the bill or the group, which announced its support for the legislation Monday, giving a boost to the GOP and President Bush.

"I wish AARP had chosen to oppose this bill," said Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. "I wish AARP was spending its $7 million telling Americans what is wrong with this bill."

Not only did AARP endorse the measure, it also said it would spend $7 million over three days beginning today on an ad campaign to promote the legislation.

Candidate Wesley Clark also added his complaint, saying he was disappointed that AARP did not oppose the bill and arguing that its support undercuts Medicare, the federal health program for seniors.

The measure would create a new prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients beginning in 2006. It would also establish a new role for insurance companies, encouraging them to offer a new, private health coverage plan for elderly Americans. The compromise bill worked out by negotiators must still win House and Senate passage before it can become law.

The bill creates a political challenge for the Democratic candidates, who would like to provide prescription drug coverage to seniors, a crucial voting bloc, but who are loath to hand Bush a legislative victory less than a year before the election.

In addition to Kerry and Clark, candidates Howard Dean, John Edwards and Dick Gephardt also criticized the bill as a giveaway to private insurers that will undermine Medicare.

"This bill is a Trojan horse," Clark said.

Edwards, a North Carolina senator, said the bill "takes billions of dollars that could be used to improve benefits for seniors and instead pumps those billions into big HMOs."

Joe Lieberman, a senator from Connecticut, said he is reserving judgment for now.

This Report Contains Material From The Washington Post.



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Candidates take on aarp over drug bill
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