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Hot Topics: Medicare Law Adds New Rx Drug Benefit
Aired December 08, 2003 - 12:43 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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has signed the new Medicare bill into law. Critics charge the $400 billion overhaul will backfire on the president when seniors read the fine print.
Here to talk about that more, including the presidential political campaign, Ralph Reed, the Southeast Regional Manager for the Bush-Cheney campaign, and Democratic Strategist Peter Fenn. He is joining from us Washington.
Peter, the president promised the American people in the campaign in 2000 prescription drug benefits. He signed this expansion of Medicare into law today. Has he neutralized an important issue going into 2004?
PETER FENN, DEM. POLITICAL CONSULTANT: I don't think so, Wolf. This piece of legislation is a ticking time bomb, not only for the exploding federal deficit, but also for seniors. Look, you have to be a lawyer, an accountant and an actuary to understand this thing. But I think once seniors get it, they are going to realize that what they're going to get is not nearly worth the cost. It's too complicated. There's a great big hole in this doughnut between $2,250 and $5,100 of prescription drug costs where they get nothing.
BLITZER: All right.
FENN: And once they do the math, they are not going to like it.
BLITZER: Ralph, go ahead and respond.
RALPH REED, BUSH CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, the fact is that for 40 million seniors who have been waiting for decades for the Democrats to deliver on their promise to provide a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, it took a Republican president and a Republican Congress to deliver. He made a promise to the seniors of America. He kept it.
And, Wolf, what's going to happen is this. Beginning next year, actually later this year, you're going to see a -- in 2004, you are going to see a prescription card that will allow seniors to begin saving between 10 and 25 percent on their prescription drugs right away. When the program fully kicks in, the average senior is going to save 60 percent on their medication.
And let me just give you one example of how dramatic this is going to be. If you take a very common anti-cholesterol medication, like Lipitor, which is used by millions of seniors, that medication, which is today costing a typical senior $108, is going to cost $28 for the average senior. BLITZER: All right.
REED: And if you're a low income senior making 150 percent of poverty level, it's going to be $4 when you fill that prescription.
BLITZER: All right.
REED: That's real delivery by this president.
BLITZER: All right.
REED: And he should be commended.
BLITZER: Stand by, gentlemen.
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 December 8, 2003 - 12:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush has signed the new Medicare bill into law. Critics charge the $400 billion overhaul will backfire on the president when seniors read the fine print.
Here to talk about that more, including the presidential political campaign, Ralph Reed, the Southeast Regional Manager for the Bush-Cheney campaign, and Democratic Strategist Peter Fenn. He is joining from us Washington.
Peter, the president promised the American people in the campaign in 2000 prescription drug benefits. He signed this expansion of Medicare into law today. Has he neutralized an important issue going into 2004?
PETER FENN, DEM. POLITICAL CONSULTANT: I don't think so, Wolf. This piece of legislation is a ticking time bomb, not only for the exploding federal deficit, but also for seniors. Look, you have to be a lawyer, an accountant and an actuary to understand this thing. But I think once seniors get it, they are going to realize that what they're going to get is not nearly worth the cost. It's too complicated. There's a great big hole in this doughnut between $2,250 and $5,100 of prescription drug costs where they get nothing.
BLITZER: All right.
FENN: And once they do the math, they are not going to like it.
BLITZER: Ralph, go ahead and respond.
RALPH REED, BUSH CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, the fact is that for 40 million seniors who have been waiting for decades for the Democrats to deliver on their promise to provide a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, it took a Republican president and a Republican Congress to deliver. He made a promise to the seniors of America. He kept it.
And, Wolf, what's going to happen is this. Beginning next year, actually later this year, you're going to see a -- in 2004, you are going to see a prescription card that will allow seniors to begin saving between 10 and 25 percent on their prescription drugs right away. When the program fully kicks in, the average senior is going to save 60 percent on their medication.
And let me just give you one example of how dramatic this is going to be. If you take a very common anti-cholesterol medication, like Lipitor, which is used by millions of seniors, that medication, which is today costing a typical senior $108, is going to cost $28 for the average senior. BLITZER: All right.
REED: And if you're a low income senior making 150 percent of poverty level, it's going to be $4 when you fill that prescription.
BLITZER: All right.
REED: That's real delivery by this president.
BLITZER: All right.
REED: And he should be commended.
BLITZER: Stand by, gentlemen.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
