Prescription Drug Benefit in the Private Fee-for-Service Plans:

They Should Be Allowed to Offer It in an UNMANAGED Form

Talking Points

+ Private fee-for-service plans are expressly designed to be unmanaged indemnity plans. Beneficiaries choose them because they can be certain that they will receive lifesaving care in critical situations without any utilization review or other managed care type restrictions.

+ Seniors who choose this type of plan clearly consider unmanaged care to be essential; they pay extra for it. The government should not penalize seniors who choose to use their own money to purchase an unmanaged prescription drug benefit by revoking the government's contribution to their health care, paid for by their taxes.

+ Americans who want unrationed, unmanaged drug coverage should not be DOUBLE-CHARGED - - paying once through their taxes (which will go to everyone else's drug benefit) and then again when they pay the full cost of the unmanaged drug benefit.

+ There should be a level playing field, in terms of the government-paid subsidy, in the competition between various managed and unmanaged drug prescription benefits.

+ IT WILL COST NO MORE MONEY to allow subsidies equally to managed prescription drug plans and unmanaged prescription drug plans offered by private fee-for-service, because the extra cost of the unmanaged care will be paid entirely, voluntarily, by the beneficiaries who choose it.