MEDICARE RX: White House Attacks Roth ‘Stopgap’ Proposal
White House health policy chief Chris Jennings yesterday criticized a GOP plan to provide temporary prescription drug assistance to low-income seniors as "nothing more than an empty promise," CongressDaily/A.M. reports. The plan, proposed by Senate Finance Chair William Roth (R-Del.), would provide states with funding to aid Medicare beneficiaries with incomes up to 175% of the poverty level with prescription drug costs and provide relief for those with "catastrophic" drug bills. Roth has said the plan could be implemented while Congress works on a more comprehensive benefit (Koffler, 9/19). Jennings attacked the idea and said, "The president will not support any initiative that ... will delay the likelihood of getting a Medicare drug benefit" (Washington Post, 9/19). He added that the administration would only support proposals to administer a drug benefit directly through Medicare that covered all 39 million beneficiaries. The White House cited a study that found 70% of the elderly would not be eligible for drug benefits under the Roth plan. But the New York Times notes that one of the administration's "two major fears" appear to be that the Republicans may push the Roth proposal through Congress, putting President Clinton in the "awkward position" of vetoing a bill providing assistance to the elderly right before the general election. Secondly, Jennings said the proposal would "undermine efforts" for a more generous Medicare benefit. Ginny Flynn, a spokesperson for Roth, said Jennings' comments showed the Clinton administration was "not interested in getting anything done on [the] issue" this year (Pear, 9/19).
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