What Do the 2002 Elections Mean for Seniors?

Nov. 6, 02 - The Republican capture of government control probably means we will see action on key senior issues but the solutions passed will have a strong private enterprise influence. I say "probably" because the senior vote seems to have lost its influence in Washington.

The two most important government programs for senior citizens are Social Security and Medicare, and both are likely to see major changes.

Social Security Reform was a hot issue in the early days of the Bush Administration and the President appointed a Commission on Social Security Reform. In December of last year the presented their recommendations, which followed the "privatization" theme used the in the Bush campaign - allowing people to invest Social Security funds in private investment accounts.

It was this part of their recommendation that received most of the headlines but the plan also included a recommendation to reduce Social Security benefits in future years - by as much as 33 percent.

The final report actually presented various options but all included some type of private investment and reductions in benefits. Republicans will almost certainly pass legislation that will embody these two concepts.

A Gallup poll in October of this year showed support for investing Social Security funds in private stocks and bonds was declining. The idea, however, was still favored by a majority of Americans under 65. A slight majority of those over 65 were against this proposal.

Medicare is more problem-ridden than Social Security, but it all bowls down to money. The program is just under-funded. The key issues are these:

Medical Providers Want Better Pay - Doctors, hospitals and HMO's are, of course, critical in providing Medicare users with the care they need. Increasingly, however, they are refusing to serve those on Medicare, because they do not think they are adequately compensated by the program.

The Republicans are committed to preserving the Bush tax cuts and are not likely to make more money available. It is going to take innovation - or new found money - to keep the medical options available to Medicare users from continuing to shrink.

Prescription Drugs - Medicare does not pay for prescription drugs. Many on Medicare are not taking the medicine prescribed, because they do not have the money to buy them. There have been two drives underway to help this situation: 1. add prescription drug coverage to Medicare, and, 2. force drug companies to make more generic (less costly) drugs available.

Bush promised a prescription drug plan in his campaign but most Republican plans have involved heavier reliance on the private drug and insurance companies.

In September the Bush Administration activated their Medicare-Endorsed Prescription Drug Card Assistance program, which they hope will reduce the cost of drugs to senior citizens by as much as 25 percent. The idea is that companies will create a discount card that must be endorsed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). They will only be endorsed if they include rebates or discounts from drug manufacturers on brand name and/or generic drugs. Medicare users will then choose the plan in which they want to enroll. This could be of some help but doesn't really begin to solve the problem.

This has been a hot-button issue with AARP. They backed losing Democrat efforts in the Senate to pass Medicare drug bills. The Democrats pushed a compromise bill to include prescription drugs in Medicare for those least able to pay. Republicans argued for a plan that called for the government to subsidize private insurance plans. The Democrats in the Senate did win approval for a plan to make generic drugs more available and to allow the import of lower priced drugs from Canada.

We can now expect the Republicans to move forward with legislation that will include some type of private drug plan insurance that is subsidized by the government.

Seniors have no doubt lost a lot of political clout. AARP, long considered a political powerhouse because of their millions of senior members, who are faithful voters, was humiliated by their failure to pass a drug bill. All polls leading up to the election showed senior citizens favoring Democratic plans on the issues of Social Security and Medicare. Yet, the Republicans won the elections decisively.

There is certainly the appearance that the senior citizens are not the political block vote that many had feared in the past. So, in general, senior issues may no longer receive the attention that have received on capitol hill.