JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Reuters) - President Bush renewed his call on Tuesday for a Medicare drugs benefit as congressional negotiators agreed on a temporary discount card to help the elderly pay for their medicines until a full-scale program is introduced.
House and Senate negotiators in Washington, meeting for the first time since July, approved creating a Medicare-endorsed drug discount card that backers predict could save seniors 15 to 25 percent on their prescriptions.
Poor people would get up to $600 a year extra to subsidize drugs under the program, expected to last just a year or two until a more comprehensive program goes into effect -- if lawmakers manage to overcome a myriad of differences and approve a final Medicare drug compromise.
Bush urged Congress to persevere on the Medicare overhaul, which would cost $400 billion over 10 years, even as the federal budget faces new strains from his request for $87 billion in emergency spending in Iraq.
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