About time a retiree group speaks out besides those beltway whores at AARP!
The Alliance for Retired Americans has expressed outrage that the Bush Administration is using taxpayer money to promote the new Medicare prescription drug law in a deceptive way. The $12.6 million advertising campaign -- entitled "Same Medicare. More Benefits" -- is slated to spend $9.5 million on TV ads and $3.1 million for newspaper, radio and internet ads. The campaign was produced by the media company conducting the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election effort. The Alliance has repeatedly denounced the new plan as "hopelessly flawed" and opposes the use of taxpayer monies to finance what it calls a "blatantly political Medicare ad campaign." The Alliance calls on all seniors to act today to let the White House and their elected representatives know how they feel about this issue. Activists are encouraged to visit the Alliance website at
http://www.retiredamericans.org to send a letter to the White House as well as their Representative and both Senators.
"The use of these ads by the Bush administration to 'rebut criticism' of the fatally flawed Medicare drug law is nothing but pure propaganda designed to distort the facts and further confuse seniors," says Alliance Executive Director Edward F. Coyle. "It's proof that those who chose profits over people will stop at nothing in their continued drive to shortchange seniors in favor of rewarding HMOs, drug companies and wealthy special interests. What's really called for is a 'Medicare Real World' ad campaign that speaks to the fact that the new law prohibits the government from negotiating lower drug prices, or that the prices of drugs will rise faster than seniors' incomes, or that the millions of seniors will suffer from lack of drug coverage. These are the truths this administration refuses to admit to."
Kourpias Says Bush Deceived Americans on Cost of Drug Bill
George J. Kourpias, President of the Alliance for Retired Americans, blasted the Bush Administration this week for "deceiving Congress and the American people about the actual cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill. They created a flawed bill, there are allegations of bribes and threats to persuade lawmakers to vote for the bill -- which narrowly passed -- and now the Office of Management and Budget says the legislation will cost $534 billion over the next decade -- $134 billion more than originally estimated by the Congressional Budget Office. One explanation for the higher cost: the billions of dollars in giveaways the bill provides to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. But why hide the true costs? That's simple: Congress would never have voted for the bill if members had known its real cost."
The new cost estimate for the Medicare prescription drug bill has prompted several key Senate Democrats to call for hearings on the issue. In a letter sent to the Senate Finance Committee on January 30, Senators Thomas Daschle (SD), Bob Graham (FL) and Kent Conrad (ND), express concern "about the extent to which the inflated estimate is a result of further overpayments and giveaways to HMOs. Surely, in the face of these estimates, we must address the new law's failure to meaningfully reduce the cost of prescription drugs and the consequent increase in drug company profits."
House Panel Probes Medicare Vote
The House Ethics Committee has begun an investigation into whether lawmakers offered bribes or threats in an effort to persuade Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) to vote for the Medicare prescription drug bill. The "informed fact-finding" mission was started two months ago after Rep. Smith said GOP leaders offered him "bribes and special deals" for his vote. Smith, who voted against the bill, later retracted the bribery allegation.
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