George Bush's position on

Medicare/Medicaid: Medicare and Medicaid were both established in 1965 by the Social Security Act. Medicaid is a program that pays for medical assistance for certain families and individuals with low incomes and resources. Link. Medicare is a program for people 65 and older, some people under 65 with disabilities, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease (a permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant). Link. Reforms for both of these programs have been demanded by the public, and in 2003 President Bush signed into law the Medicare Modernization Act, which is hailed by some as a great revision to Medicare but to others is considered a bad piece of policy.

Description of candidate's position: The Medicare Modernization Act, which President Bush supports, provides new prescription drug benefits and more choices for their health care coverage. For the upcoming term, President Bush will continue to expand and improve the benefits for seniors, including preventive benefits and coverage of disease management services, as this act's provisions continue to go into effect. Link.

Quotation from the candidate: "I believe our seniors must have a good health care system. I went to Washington to fix problems, not pass them on to future Presidents. I saw a problem in Medicare. Let me give you an example. Medicare pays thousands of dollars for a heart surgery, but not one dime for the prescription drug to prevent the heart surgery from being needed in the first place. That wasn't right for our seniors; it wasn't right for the taxpayers. We came together and strengthened Medicare for our seniors. Seniors will get prescription drug coverage in 2006, and we're not going to go back." October 10, 2004, Link.

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: According to Tom Miller of the CATO Institute, Bush's Medicare Modernization Act is a good policy because instead of promising 'cheap' drugs, it relies on private insurers and cost-conscious Medicare beneficiaries to hold down spending and keep politicians and bureaucrats from setting even higher limits. While it has points that Miller may not agree with, he also agrees that it also begins to simplify part of Medicare's core benefits structure. Link.

Negative: The New America Foundation, an independent, non-partisan, non-profit public policy institute, does not support the recent Medicare Modernization Act, stating that the reforms only confirmed fears of the downfall of Medicare. The bill in their view is "promising a meager and ill-designed drug benefit at a hugely inflated price." Link.

Comparison: Kerry does not agree with the law signed by President Bush last December. Kerry's plan includes expanding coverage to more Americans, making Medicare a universal health care system. Bush does not want to make Medicare larger, his plan targets helping the people who are already in the program, by giving them better prescription drug coverage and more options and benefits within the current system.

Link to Kerry's issue page