Medicare drug benefit cries out for cure

The high cost of drugs under Medicare Part D isn't just a government problem, because the government pays only part of the cost of the program. The crazy-quilt benefit design requires seniors first to pay an annual premium, then a steep deductible – and then all the costs for annual prescriptions that are more than $2,250 but less than $5,100.
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Does this sound like a drug plan written with the needs of senior citizens in mind? Of course not – because the Medicare Modernization Act, which created the program, was written by drug industry lobbyists. It was passed in 2003 in the middle of the night, with voting held open for hours as desperate GOP leaders tried to twist enough arms to deliver the votes to their corporate benefactors.

Fiscal conservatives from both parties objected to the high cost of the plan. To quiet these objections, the Bush administration ordered Medicare's actuary, Richard Foster, not to answer questions about its true cost. If he told Congress the truth, Foster was informed, he would be fired.

Foster was silenced by Thomas Scully, who was appointed by President George W. Bush to be chief administrator of Medicare.
Revolving-door beneficiaries

Scully left his government post after the prescription drug law was passed and is now employed by law and investment firms that lobby for major health care companies.

Billy Tauzin, a former top-ranking Republican member of Congress, also switched jobs once the Medicare drug bill was pushed through Congress. As head of the Energy and Commerce Committee, he was a co-sponsor of the new drug law. Tauzin is now the top lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, earning an estimated $2 million per year.