Don't Cut Medicare Benefits -- Tackle Drug Prices

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-baker/medicare-drug-costs_b_2211835.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Most people with Medicare are in no position to pay more for their health care. Half of people with Medicare live on annual incomes of $22,000 or less--just under 200% of the federal poverty level. And half have $53,000 or less in personal savings. Health care costs are a significant expense for Medicare beneficiaries, regardless of income. Medicare households spend 15 percent of their total expenses on health care compared to 5 percent among non-Medicare households.

For Oliver, a Medicare beneficiary who called our helpline from Atlanta, Medicare already costs too much. Oliver lives on $1,400 per month or $17,000 per year, almost entirely from Social Security benefits. His heart condition recently worsened and now Oliver's out-of-pocket costs amount to more than $300 per month -- over 20 percent of his monthly income. Oliver's income is too high to qualify for public assistance to help with these costs. So, he relies on community programs -- like a local transportation service to doctor's appointments -- to make ends meet. Some months, Oliver skips his heart medications to pay for other bills, like his rent or electricity.

Oliver is not alone. The average Medicare household spends $4,500 on health care each year. Costs increase with age and health care needs. In the last five years of life, the average person with Medicare spends almost $37,000 on health care -- just over two times Oliver's income. Nearly half of Americans die with less than $10,000 in the bank; with little savings to his name, Oliver could be among them.

Eliminating wasteful spending by the federal government on prescription drugs may not solve all of Oliver's problems, but his struggle to afford high health care costs and still make ends meet, a reality shared by millions of other people with Medicare, poses a critical question -- so long as the federal government grossly overpays pharmaceutical companies for drugs, what is the justification for balancing the deficit on the backs of people with Medicare? Instead of shifting costs to people with Medicare, we should be talking about cutting wasteful spending so that we can invest in expanding programs that help those with low-incomes afford Medicare. Let's have that conversation, so that Oliver can get the health care he needs.