Reid to vote against prescription drug plan

Suzanne Struglinski

Monday, Nov. 24, 2003 | 8:57 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., will vote against the pending Medicare prescription drug plan saying it does more harm than good for Nevada residents and the whole Medicare program.

The Senate could vote today on the Medicare bill, which adds a prescription drug benefit to the program starting in 2006 and would offer 15 percent to 25 percent drug discounts to plan beneficiaries starting next year, but also includes numerous other changes to the federal health care plan for seniors.

Reid said he wants to see a drug plan for seniors on Medicare but objects to other provisions in the bill.

"In Nevada about 20,000 low-income senior citizens qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid," he said. "Under this legislation, these citizens our poorest seniors would have to pay more out-of-pocket for drug costs than they currently do under Medicaid."

A Senate committee report says 14,490 Nevadans could lose their employer-based retiree health benefits under the plan. The Bush administration, however, projects Nevada would save $103 million over eight years under the bill.

Reid took issue with a proposed pilot program that could tap Las Vegas to be one of the first metropolitan areas to test a premium support plan combining private insurance with Medicare.

"When seniors in Nevada asked for a prescription drug benefit, they certainly didn't want to be used as guinea pigs," Reid said. "Nevada could qualify for two demonstrations programs that would force seniors to give up their doctor and join an HMO or pay higher premiums to remain in traditional Medicare."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., voted against the bill over the weekend. The House passed the bill 220-215 early Saturday.

Based on estimates from the Health and Human Services Department, the premium support system in the bill would create discrepancies in what seniors pay from city to city, Berkley said.

"Under the GOP's prescription plan, seniors living in Clark County could be paying almost $2,000 a year in Medicare premiums, while seniors in other parts of the U.S. would pay less than $700," she said.

Clark County residents could pay $1,950 a year while someone in North Carolina would pay $675 a year, according to Berkley's office.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is "still weighing the positives and the negatives," his spokesman Jack Finn said.

Reps. Jim Gibbons and Jon Porter, both R-Nev., voted for the bill.