(This is the first in a five-part weekly series examining issues in this November's presidential election.)
As baby boomers everywhere begin suffering from the aches and pains of old age, presidential candidates Vice President Al Gore (D) and Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R) are vying for this major voting bloc's support by offering different proposals to reduce the cost of prescription drugs.
Both candidates discussed their individual proposals in the first presidential debate of the election season held last night at the University of Massachusetts. Set off by a question early in the debate, Gore and Bush sparred over the details in each other's plans. The candidates continued to bring the issue up repeatedly throughout the rest of the night, each one contending that only his plan would offer fair coverage to all senior citizens.
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Most elections manage to elevate at least one political issue above the rest, making it a beacon of the campaign - this year the issue is prescription drugs, said Larry J. Sabato, professor of government and foreign affairs.
Gore was the first candidate to propose a prescription drug plan in the campaign, making it the centerpiece of his drive to appeal to working families.
By expanding the Medicare benefits already in place for older Americans, the Gore plan offers a voluntary program to cover the cost of prescription drugs for senior citizens. The program would cover half the cost of prescription drugs up to $5,000 for every American over the age of 65.
This would mean that someone as wealthy as Bill Gates could qualify for this type of aid, said Carolyn Engelhard, University health policy analyst and lecturer in the Health Evaluation Services.
Gore's plan also would cover premiums and co-payments for low-income beneficiaries of government programs.
By offering the prescription drug plan through Medicare, "seniors would be given a guarantee" that they would always have prescription drug coverage, said John Fairbanks, director of communications for Families USA, a health care consumer lobbying group.
The Bush plan gives individual insurance companies the power to offer prescription drug cost-reduction plans, rather than government programs such as Medicare.
Under Bush's proposal the government would subsidize private health care plans and allow individual insurance companies to develop prescription drug benefits within their current plans.
"This type of program is easier to get off the ground because it relies on programs that are already in place," said Richard Coorsh, spokesman for the Health Insurance Association of America, the world trade organization representing HMO's, that helped defeat the Patient's Bill of Rights.
But some agencies argue that the Bush plan offers no guarantees that insurance companies will continue to provide the prescription drug plans every year.
"No patchwork quilt system of private insurance will work," Fairbanks said.
If insurance agencies find the proposals are not profitable, they may not continue the programs, he added.
But Bush supporters insist the plan will promote healthy competition among insurance firms rather than stop them from administering the prescription drug plans, Coolsh said.
While both candidates are going to great lengths to promote their prescription drug plans, some political analysts said they believe the public will pay little attention to health care issues and focus on meatier, controversial topics that grab more attention and create more interest.
The public may realize that it will be difficult to pass either of these proposals into law, said Scott Keeter, director of the center for public policy at George Mason University.
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