Hill brings friend to town hall meeting

Former 9th District U.S. Congressman and 2006 Democratic challenger Baron Hill met with community members Saturday during a town hall meeting to discuss the Medicare Part D program and prescription drug coverage, saying the only hope for genuine American health care reform centered around the welfare of the human being and not the profit margin of the pharmaceutical and insurance industry.\n"Things can be better in Washington D.C.," Hill said. "There are a lot of things we don't like about this new prescription drug program. One of the things I want to do here at this forum is not only complain, but also offer some suggestions of how we can fix the program."\nAbout 35 community members attended the town hall meeting, although the audience contained several local democratic politicians and other Hill campaign members. Hill brought with him Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark., a rice farmer and licensed pharmacist, to help community members better understand the complex realities of coping with a Republican-dominated U.S. House and Senate.\n"It is a particular disappointment the results of the last election turned out like they did because the nation is not being well served by those results," Berry said.\nHill, a U.S. Representative from 1998-2004 who replaced Lee Hamilton, a Democrat, lost to 9th District incumbent and Republican Mike Sodrel by about 500 votes in 2004, the closest race in the United States. The Hill versus Sodrel 2006 rematch -- their third meeting in three election cycles -- is expected to again be one of the closest races in the country.\nSimilar to the 9th district constituency that is sitting on the fence between Hill and Sodrel, the discussion and options of Medicare Part D and the new prescription drug coverage is divided across party lines.\nSupporters of the new health care plans have said older Americans now have more choices of heath care options at varying price options, but opponents have said many of the new health care plans actually cost more for prescription medicine co-payments than the drugs cost themselves. \nBerry said the bad news for Americans regarding Medicare Part D is that most prescription drugs can be obtained from foreign countries for a fraction of the cost without even needing a prescription. He said the good news is that many Americans are finally beginning to understand how the Republican-led Congress determined their 21st Century prescription drug coverage.\n"Now the choice was: do something that really helps the American people in a way that the government can afford it or to take care of the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry," he said. "We all know what is wrong with this plan -- it was designed so the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry could, one more time, take advantage of the American people. And they are doing a great job of it."\nBloomington resident Martene Smith said she and her husband have encountered many difficulties related to cost as they navigated through the Medicare Part D program so she attended the town hall meeting to hear what Hill had to say.\n"I don't like being told what I can and can't do when I got into the program," she said. "I didn't have a lot of trouble picking plans, but I don't consider it a real help. I don't know exactly what the best solution would be, but it didn't use to be this way. Drugs have become so expensive and older people like me need lots and lots of drugs."\nSmith said she and her husband fit neatly and are drowning in the so-called "Donut Hole" gap in Medicare benefits: a $250 co-pay results in Medicare paying up to 75 percent of the initial drug costs up to $2,250, but the program does not offer further financial assistance to older Americans until the government covers up to 95 percent of drug expenses exceeding $5,100 or more. \nMany older Americans on a fixed income often have trouble affording the $250 deductible, and about half of the Medicare Part D program participants report spending the same amount of money on prescription drugs or more than before they signed onto a specific plan that can not be modified without a financial penalty. May 15 was the last day for Americans to register for the program. There is a 1 percent penalty for late registration.\nMillions of older persons have no health coverage at all and an estimated 40 million Americans have no health coverage through their employer, private insurer or the government.\nBerry and Hill addressed the audience for about 90 minutes, although about half the time was dedicated to community member discussion of Hill's support and vote of "Yes" to grant President Bush the authority to wage war on Iraq. \nBerry, who also worked on then-first lady Hillary Clinton's domestic policy council to propose a universal heath care plan, told the crowd the free market is not in effect when it comes to prescription drugs in the United States because cheaper drug imports are against the law. He said he has helped older persons from Arkansas obtain cheaper drugs from Canada before, and now he is hoping a soon-to-be democratic led Congress can obtain cheaper drugs for all Americans. \n"We know how to provide prescription medicine, not only for our senior citizens, but for all Americans and save the federal government and the tax payers of this country $100 billion a year. You don't even have to have a card," Berry said. "All you have to do is go to the drugstore and buy it. And the way to do that is to allow Medicare of the federal government to negotiate with the drug companies and get the same price for Americans that everybody else in the world gets"