The New York Times
January 3, 2002
by The Associated Press
“Discount prescription drug cards now available to older Americans offer only meager savings, particularly in urban areas, government figures suggest.”
“The administration countered that the GAO study is proof that the Bush plan is needed. By attracting more seniors, the Bush discount cards will allow companies to negotiate much more substantial savings, said Thomas Scully, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”
Thomas Scully, CMS administrator:
“The voluntary drug cards that exist in the market for seniors don’t deliver any savings. Seniors are not organized at all. They’re the only people in the country who pay over-the-counter prices.”
And from the National Journal:
“… with congressional election campaigns in full swing, Novelli (Bill Novelli, executive director of AARP) says that his group will aggressively remind lawmakers that prescription prices are still high, that millions of seniors have no help with those costs, and that the problem is getting worse. ‘We’re going to go in for the biggest possible package that we can,’ said Novelli. ‘We’re going to go for it.'”
Comment: And before the next elections, will we see Bush discount cards? Or a real Medicare prescription benefit? And will we be allowed in on the conversation when Mr. Scully explains to Mr. Novelli precisely what he meant when he said that seniors are not organized at all?