GOP drug plan sabotaged

The GOP's Medicare benefit plan, passed last week by the House, while initially achieving its sponsors' goal of throwing the Democrats into a state of acute confusion, appears to be unraveling as it faces consideration by the Senate.  Two items have come up this week calling their plan into question. 

First, a front page story in the New York Times on July 8 shows how the GOP plan (to provide a subsidy to private insurance companies to entice them to issue prescription drug insurance policies) is being tried in Nevada, and is failing miserably.  Nevada's Republican Governor Guinn launched a plan to provide $37 million to subsidize private drug insurance for the state's low-income elderly.  After inviting hundreds of insurance companies to participate in the plan, only one company responded - a company not licensed in Nevada.  State officials are starting to worry that perhaps the insurance industry is not interested in providing prescription drug policies, even with governmental subsidies.

Second,William Roth Jr, Republican Senator from Delaware and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has proposed scrapping the House plan, and having the government offer drug coverage to Medicare patients.  When the highly-ranked and highly-placed Republican Senator made this proposal (which nearly duplicates the Democrat plan), Republican leadership was nearly apoplectic.  Apparently, Roth is facing a tough re-election battle in a state with a lot of seniors.  Sorry, guys.

DrRich comments:

We, of course, told you weeks ago that the Gekkonian plan was a non-starter from the beginning.  Insurance companies, as the Health Insurance Association of America has repeatedly told congressmen, have no intention of ever offering prescription drug policies.  These companies are in business to make money, and see no way to do so in the long run with drug insurance - government subsidies or no government subsidies.

So the Gekkonian plan was never a real plan for providing drug coverage.  It was a plan to trump the Clintonians in an election year on an issue that had become a surrogate for health care reform. Knowing their plan would be unacceptable to the opposition, the Gekkonians could virtually count on a presidential veto.  "We passed a real drug plan," they could then say, " one that would provide true prescription drug relief to our beleaguered seniors. But the Democrats have vetoed it, revealing their true stripes - they don't want to help seniors; they just want to take over health care, and turn it over to the government.  It's 1993 all over again." 

It was a good plan, and had at least some chance of working.  But then the fine folks in Nevada came along and demonstrated that the insurance companies aren't bluffing.  They really don't want to go bankrupt providing prescription drug insurance.  And Senator Roth, chair of a key committee, in a stunning reversal for the Gekkonians, suddenly comes out for a classic Clintonian plan.  

Senate Republicans are madly trying to repair the damage, but it may be too late.  A fine bit of political strategizing seems to be coming undone, and worse, it is coming undone at the hands of their own.

07/15/2000

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