As Moffit reports, about a third of all seniors get their prescription-drug coverage through their employers or former employers. And nearly 40 percent of those seniors – their income levels notwithstanding – would shift from being covered by reasonably priced private insurance to a government-subsidized program that already is hemorrhaging cash.
Sen. Frist says he agreed to this compromise because he'd been told only about 2 percent of seniors would move into a private plan if President Bush's proposal were adopted. The White House says as many as 28 percent would take the offer. Common sense demands we take another look at the disparity in figures.
Privately run care is the secure future of Medicare. Almost everyone who studies the issue without an overwhelming bias in favor of big government agrees. Which makes the word from the White House to roll over – Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson (contact) has pronounced himself and the administration "pleased with the progress" of the bill – even more disappointing. The New York Times calls it "a tactical retreat." Bob Moffit calls it "a huge step backward from reform."
I call it capitulation for the sake of politics. Monday's Wall Street Journal editorial agrees, "President Bush, you'll recall, came to town promising to fix Medicare and Social Security so they would remain solvent when the Baby Boomers retire. But soon after launching the Medicare debate this year, the White House decided that the politics of a new drug entitlement are so good that the actual policy doesn't matter."
When a beloved president and otherwise principled congressional leaders support policies that expand government in a manner that only a liberal could love, the efforts must be vehemently opposed. This is one of those times. President Bush's advisers fail to recognize that such a tremendous disregard for his stated core values in exchange for some perceived political gain could actually do to him what reneging on the "no new taxes" pledge did to his father – de-couple him from his base and topple any chance of a second term.
In a recent CNN interview, Sen. Kennedy blatantly laid out his plan to use this Medicare proposal as the foundation for his plans to build even bigger health-care government: "But this is going to be a down payment. And one thing is going to be for sure. When we get this as a down payment, we're going to come back again and again and again and fight to make sure that we have a good program."
Conservatives who support the measure for political reasons are betraying the faith of the American public who elected them. Taking a little longer to solve the senior prescription problem correctly is the principled, right thing to do.