The White House
Health Care Reform Today
October 13, 1993
- The White House expects to send legislation to Congress as
early as next week. "Our expectation is that it will be
sent next week," Ira Magaziner said yesterday after a speech
to a Citizens' Jury program sponsored by the Jefferson
Foundation. "We're just making sure we've got it right."
- We have been translating our draft plan into legislative
language. The 246-page draft of legislative specifications
last month represented the most thorough and detailed study in
history of how to move from theory to reality in health
reform. We want to get it right, and that is more important
than meeting any deadline. Nobody has introduced a plan in
this kind of detail.
- This week, supporters of health care reform are talking about
the importance of the prescription drug benefit in the
President's plan. Today, many Americans have no prescription
drug coverage. Almost 25 percent of Americans under age 65 do
not have any type of public or private prescription drug
insurance coverage. And since Medicare does not cover
outpatient prescription drugs, less than half of all drug
costs for seniors are covered by any kind of insurance.
- The Health Security plan offers all Americans guaranteed
prescription drug coverage for the first time. All health
plans covering those under 65 will be required to cover
outpatient prescription drugs. Under the low-cost sharing
option, the beneficiary will pay $5 per prescription. Under
the high-cost sharing option, the beneficiary will be covered
for 80 percent of his or her prescriptions after meeting a
$250 annual deductible. Medicare beneficiaries will have 80
percent coverage for medications after they reach a $250
deductible. A $1,000 annual cap will be placed on out-of-
pocket prescription drug costs, with costs above this amount
fully covered.
- The Health Insurance Association of America is running
misleading ads across the country. So far, the insurance
companies have spent nearly $5 million to block reform. Their
ad tries to scare people with talk of "limiting spending"
because the insurance companies are worried that reform will
limit their profits. In a speech yesterday in Orlando, the
First Lady urged magazine publishers to "sort out the scare
tactics and the misinformation" in the health care reform
debate.