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American Morning
Health Care Will be a Prime Focus of State of the Union
Aired January 28, 2003 - 08:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Health care will be a prime focus of the president's State of the Union speech tonight.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to tell us what to expect and what it could mean for you.
Good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, huge topic.
Not as big as the war or economy, but certainly health care, a big, big topic for the State of the Union tonight. What we expect are really three hot-button issues that the presidents has talked, too, about in the past. Prescription drug benefits for seniors certainly topping the list, modernizing Medicare and access to health care.
Prescription drug benefits is something we talked about a lot. When Medicare was actually started back in the '60s, prescription drugs were not a huge part of overall health care costs, but now they are a huge part. So Medicare, when it was actually founded in the '60s, only covered in-hospital medications. Take a look now, the United States actually one of the most expensive countries in the world, when you look at average drug costs around the world. Also if you look at some of the most common drugs and you can actually compare some of them, you'll see in the United States that these drugs are more expensive here in the United States than anywhere else.
Now the president really -- we're expected that the president is going to actually talk about options for seniors who want to talk about prescription drugs. There are really three options that sort of spring to mind. You can see them. The existing fee for service plan, which is Medicare, really the way exists now, possibly HMOs with prescription benefit. Now what we're talking about is incentivizing seniors to join private plans by giving them prescription drug benefit; again, taking them out of Medicare, putting them in private plans with prescription drug benefits, and finally, just having them join a private plan that has its own drug benefits. Those are the big sort of three that are probably going to be the options.
Not everyone agrees with this. This is a quote actually from Barbara Kennelly, who is president of the National Committee for the Preservation of Social Security and Medicine, basically talking about the fact that these prescription drug benefits for current beneficiaries should not be held hostage by the requirement to enroll in a private plan, and that, Paula, probably is one of the biggest issues Bush has been talking about. Can we get these seniors who are involved in Medicare, that's going to cost $400 billion or 10 years to actually join private plans by giving them prescription drug benefits.
ZAHN: What do you think?
HEMMER: Well, I think that that's an option really. Prescription drug benefits has become a much bigger stumbling block than it has been in the past. So anything you can do to make sure these seniors aren't forced to choose between buying drugs or paying rent is possibly a good option.
Here's the problem, though, and the problem that Bush has already seen in part, is the HMOs actually have to bid on these seniors. They actually got to be able to provide the health care at the same quality and same quantity as Medicare. The HMOs haven't been doing the bidding. They haven't been trying to recruit these seniors into their programs. And if they don't do that, the plan sort of falls apart. And you have to make it worth their while to do this.
ZAHN: And structurally, are they capable of handling it?
GUPTA: That's right, and this is a huge infrastructure. You know, Paula, there's 42 million people that are uninsured right now in this country right now. Seniors certainly are insured, but certainly if you throw all these new people at the private sector, the private HMOs, you are asking exactly the right question, are they going to be able to handle this sudden influx?
ZAHN: Let's see if we get any answers tonight.
GUPTA: Yes, we'll be watching.
ZAHN: We will be watching. Our special coverage begins at 8:45 tonight.
Thanks, doctor.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 28, 2003 - 08:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Health care will be a prime focus of the president's State of the Union speech tonight.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to tell us what to expect and what it could mean for you.
Good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, huge topic.
Not as big as the war or economy, but certainly health care, a big, big topic for the State of the Union tonight. What we expect are really three hot-button issues that the presidents has talked, too, about in the past. Prescription drug benefits for seniors certainly topping the list, modernizing Medicare and access to health care.
Prescription drug benefits is something we talked about a lot. When Medicare was actually started back in the '60s, prescription drugs were not a huge part of overall health care costs, but now they are a huge part. So Medicare, when it was actually founded in the '60s, only covered in-hospital medications. Take a look now, the United States actually one of the most expensive countries in the world, when you look at average drug costs around the world. Also if you look at some of the most common drugs and you can actually compare some of them, you'll see in the United States that these drugs are more expensive here in the United States than anywhere else.
Now the president really -- we're expected that the president is going to actually talk about options for seniors who want to talk about prescription drugs. There are really three options that sort of spring to mind. You can see them. The existing fee for service plan, which is Medicare, really the way exists now, possibly HMOs with prescription benefit. Now what we're talking about is incentivizing seniors to join private plans by giving them prescription drug benefit; again, taking them out of Medicare, putting them in private plans with prescription drug benefits, and finally, just having them join a private plan that has its own drug benefits. Those are the big sort of three that are probably going to be the options.
Not everyone agrees with this. This is a quote actually from Barbara Kennelly, who is president of the National Committee for the Preservation of Social Security and Medicine, basically talking about the fact that these prescription drug benefits for current beneficiaries should not be held hostage by the requirement to enroll in a private plan, and that, Paula, probably is one of the biggest issues Bush has been talking about. Can we get these seniors who are involved in Medicare, that's going to cost $400 billion or 10 years to actually join private plans by giving them prescription drug benefits.
ZAHN: What do you think?
HEMMER: Well, I think that that's an option really. Prescription drug benefits has become a much bigger stumbling block than it has been in the past. So anything you can do to make sure these seniors aren't forced to choose between buying drugs or paying rent is possibly a good option.
Here's the problem, though, and the problem that Bush has already seen in part, is the HMOs actually have to bid on these seniors. They actually got to be able to provide the health care at the same quality and same quantity as Medicare. The HMOs haven't been doing the bidding. They haven't been trying to recruit these seniors into their programs. And if they don't do that, the plan sort of falls apart. And you have to make it worth their while to do this.
ZAHN: And structurally, are they capable of handling it?
GUPTA: That's right, and this is a huge infrastructure. You know, Paula, there's 42 million people that are uninsured right now in this country right now. Seniors certainly are insured, but certainly if you throw all these new people at the private sector, the private HMOs, you are asking exactly the right question, are they going to be able to handle this sudden influx?
ZAHN: Let's see if we get any answers tonight.
GUPTA: Yes, we'll be watching.
ZAHN: We will be watching. Our special coverage begins at 8:45 tonight.
Thanks, doctor.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
