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American Morning
Minding Your Business: Prescription Bill for Seniors in Sight
Aired November 18, 2003 - 07:49 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's prescription plan for seniors just got a big booster shot.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
It looks like some good news from the AARP.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's right, particularly if you're on the Republican side of the aisle or, in fact, for people who want to reform Medicare. That's what's going on right now, Soledad.
The biggest overhaul in the 38-year history of this program, of course, Medicare for senior citizens, 40 million Americans covered. And big point here is that for the first time there will be out- patient drug coverage, prescription drug coverage for seniors. The AARP endorsing the Republican-backed plan; some Democrats on as well.
Here's what the AARP -- here's what the prescription plan would entail. It would cover 75 percent of drug costs, up to $2,200 a year. The average premium: $35 a month. The average deductible: $275 a year. This would go into effect in the year 2006.
Some people are suggesting this isn't even as good as the average working American gets, in some cases. The AARP saying it's not perfect, but this is how the American legislative system works. Some conservative Republicans -- excuse me -- are actually against this, because they consider it too much money spent here.
The AARP wanted the competition capped -- in other words, the private sector. The conservative Republicans wanted the private sector involved. They got rid of that. It's only going to be a pilot program. And they wanted more money for employers, actual subsidies to private employers to keep them paying their retirees. Also more money for low-income seniors -- they got that.
Some moderate Republicans and Democrats opposed -- Senator Kennedy opposed.
So, really, this is going to be fascinating to watch this week, you guys -- we're probably going to get a vote as soon as Friday -- watching them hammer this out. This is our political system at its best, I think, and they're really making some headway here.
O'BRIEN: Interesting to see what it looks like at the very end.
SERWER: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Do we have time for a quick market check? We thought...
SERWER: We do.
O'BRIEN: ... remember last year we were talking about Dow, 10,000?
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Well...
SERWER: We've really been down quite a few sessions in a row here. Yesterday, another one, terror sort of taking the front headline yesterday and hitting the stock market. We were down triple digits on the Dow, so that's not so bad -- down 57 points though. Futures looking up this morning, Soledad. Home Depot reporting some nice numbers this morning, so that stock should be moving to the upside, at least initially.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thank you very much.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Sight>
Aired November 18, 2003 - 07:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's prescription plan for seniors just got a big booster shot.
Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
It looks like some good news from the AARP.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: That's right, particularly if you're on the Republican side of the aisle or, in fact, for people who want to reform Medicare. That's what's going on right now, Soledad.
The biggest overhaul in the 38-year history of this program, of course, Medicare for senior citizens, 40 million Americans covered. And big point here is that for the first time there will be out- patient drug coverage, prescription drug coverage for seniors. The AARP endorsing the Republican-backed plan; some Democrats on as well.
Here's what the AARP -- here's what the prescription plan would entail. It would cover 75 percent of drug costs, up to $2,200 a year. The average premium: $35 a month. The average deductible: $275 a year. This would go into effect in the year 2006.
Some people are suggesting this isn't even as good as the average working American gets, in some cases. The AARP saying it's not perfect, but this is how the American legislative system works. Some conservative Republicans -- excuse me -- are actually against this, because they consider it too much money spent here.
The AARP wanted the competition capped -- in other words, the private sector. The conservative Republicans wanted the private sector involved. They got rid of that. It's only going to be a pilot program. And they wanted more money for employers, actual subsidies to private employers to keep them paying their retirees. Also more money for low-income seniors -- they got that.
Some moderate Republicans and Democrats opposed -- Senator Kennedy opposed.
So, really, this is going to be fascinating to watch this week, you guys -- we're probably going to get a vote as soon as Friday -- watching them hammer this out. This is our political system at its best, I think, and they're really making some headway here.
O'BRIEN: Interesting to see what it looks like at the very end.
SERWER: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Do we have time for a quick market check? We thought...
SERWER: We do.
O'BRIEN: ... remember last year we were talking about Dow, 10,000?
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Well...
SERWER: We've really been down quite a few sessions in a row here. Yesterday, another one, terror sort of taking the front headline yesterday and hitting the stock market. We were down triple digits on the Dow, so that's not so bad -- down 57 points though. Futures looking up this morning, Soledad. Home Depot reporting some nice numbers this morning, so that stock should be moving to the upside, at least initially.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thank you very much.
SERWER: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Sight>
