THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release June 13, 2000



PRESIDENT CLINTON RELEASES NEW REPORT ON THE SPECIAL CHALLENGES FACING RURAL SENIORS WHO NEED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Prescription Drug Coverage & Rural Medicare Beneficaries:
A Critical Unmet Need
PDF Information (58 k)

Today, the President will release a new report from the Domestic Policy Council and the National Economic Council documenting the special challenges that the over 9 million Medicare beneficiaries in rural communities who are trying to get and afford life-saving prescription drugs. This report, prepared in response to a request from Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), shows that rural beneficiaries tend to have a greater need for prescription drug coverage but have fewer coverage options. Their incomes are lower, access to pharmacies is more limited, and out-of-pocket spending higher. The report will highlight that the private prescription drug coverage options available to rural beneficiaries are not only severely limited, but extremely expensive. The President will stress that it makes little sense to build on flawed private options like Medigap, the approach being advocated by the House Republicans today. Instead, he will urge Republicans to work with him to design a meaningful Medicare prescription drug benefit that provides an affordable, dependable, coverage option available to all beneficiaries.

RURAL BENEFICIARIES HAVE A GREATER NEED FOR PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE. Rural Medicare beneficiaries, who represent nearly one-fourth of the Medicare population, have lower incomes, more limited access to pharmacies, and higher out-of-pocket expenditures than their urban counterparts. Key findings of the report the President is releasing today include:

CONGRESS SHOULD WORK IN A BIPARTISAN FASHION TO DRAFT A MEANINGFUL MEDICARE DRUG BENEFIT. The President will call on the Congress to work together on a plan that is designed to cover people - not provide political cover. He will raise concerns about the Republican proposal that would use a flawed Medigap-like model that would not work for all Medicare beneficiaries.

THE PRESIDENT'S PLAN EXTENDS PRESCRIPTION DRUGS TO ALL MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES. The President's plan provides an affordable, accessible, prescription drug benefit option to all beneficiaries. It is:

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