For Release November 2, 2000

Contact: Kathryn Serkes (202) 333-3855

Al Gore's plan for Medicare prescription drug coverage is bad for patients, doctors, taxpayers and employers, according to an issues paper released today by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

"This is a roach motel for seniors -- they get in, but then can't get out, and they might end up dead," said Jane M. Orient, AAPS Executive Director. "Increased bureaucracy means seniors will have trouble finding doctors to treat them, and be forced to settle for drugs that might not work for them."

Politicians talk in general terms about helping the small percentage of seniors with no drug coverage. But what they don't tell you is how it will hurt the vast majority who do have a drug benefit. AAPS has crunched numbers for a real person instead of talking in the abstract. "The price tag of this plan will more than double my 78-year-old mother's out-of-pocket prescription costs," said Kathryn Serkes, AAPS Public Affairs Counsel.

Under her Medicare Choice Plan, she pays $320 a year for prescriptions for glaucoma, arthritis and intestinal problems. But under the Gore plan, her annual cost for the exact same drugs would balloon to $760. ($600 Gore premiums + $320 prescriptions, minus $160 Gore 50% deductible = $760) She's already getting the prescriptions at a vastly discounted senior rate. "Price checks from various retail and web stores reveal that I would have to pay up to $4,000 for the same prescriptions," said Serkes. "This plans means she'll pay more, and put up with government interference in her choices that she neither wants or needs. It's a lousy, dangerous deal."

The AAPS paper outlines other concerns about the plan, including increased costs to taxpayers, chilling effect on drug research, restrictions on drugs available to seniors and increased federal bureaucracy.

"The increased regulations and more federal bureaucracy imposed by the new drug plan will make it more difficult for patients to find a doctor willing to treat Medicare patients," said Dr. Orient.

A recent survey of doctors conducted by AAPS reveals that 20% of all doctors will not accept new Medicare patients because of hassles/or threats from Medicare, and that more than one-third (34%) restrict services to Medicare patients (such as surgery) to avoid the threat of government prosecution. "This situation will only be magnified by increased regulations under Gore's drug plan," said Dr. Orient.

"Adding any stand-alone prescription drug benefit to Medicare is like adding a third floor to a building with a crumbling foundation," said Dr. Orient. "The system needs a complete overhaul."

More information:

• Talking Points on the Gore plan
• AAPS Proposal for Medicare Reform
• AAPS White Paper on Medicare Reform
• Other Medicare Issues