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Key senators reach deal on Medicare drug coverageBut Democratic leaders question commitment to Medicare
From Jonathan Karl
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Seniors are a step closer to getting long-awaited Medicare prescription drug coverage now that the top Democrat and top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee have struck a deal on the issue. "We've been at this point before and it's passed us," Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, the leading Democrat on the finance panel said Thursday. "This time, it's going to be different." The details aren't final, but the deal proposes to provide drug coverage to seniors for $35 a month beginning in 2006. There would be a $275 deductible, and half of costs up to $3,450 would then be covered. Under the proposal, there would be no coverage for costs between $3,450 and $5,300. Above that, Medicare would pay 90 percent of all drug costs. And total out of pocket expenses for seniors would not exceed $3,700. The plan would also set up a program called "Medicare Advantage" to encourage seniors to enroll in privately administered managed care programs, something the Bush administration supports. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, hailed the deal as a "major breakthrough in our effort to give senior citizens the prescription drug coverage under Medicare they need and deserve." But Kennedy's praise for the deal put him at odds with Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, and other Democratic leaders, who are denouncing the deal as inefficient and hidden effort to privatize Medicare. A top Democratic aide described Daschle as "apoplectic," upset that Baucus had struck a deal with Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Baucus, according to congressional sources, was lambasted about the deal at a private meeting with top Democrats. Sources at that meeting said that Sen. Kent Conrad, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee stormed out in anger. "The mood of that meeting was very bad. It was very angry," said Sen. John Rockefeller, D-West Virginia. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, likes the deal, but some conservatives are not so sure. They are concerned the plan would cost too much and do too little to reform Medicare. The Bush administration is very interested in delivering prescription drug coverage for America's seniors -- a significant voting bloc. As a candidate, George W. Bush promised senior drug coverage. As president, he is pressuring fellow Republicans to get it done. The White House recently gave Republicans a videotaped personal appeal from the president. "My goal is to give seniors more choices and better benefits under Medicare, including a long awaited prescription drug benefit," Bush says in the videotape. The White House wants Republicans to play the video at town hall meetings back home. Under the president's plan -- he unveiled his ideas in March -- drug coverage would be given to all seniors, but those who opt to exchange traditional Medicare for a form of managed care from a private insurance company would get a more generous benefit. But Democratic leaders are already signaling a tough fight against such a move, accusing Republicans of trying to force seniors to give up traditional Medicare. "We think that's wrong," Daschle said recently.
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