News Intelligence Analysis
From THE DAILY MIS-LEAD
April 27, 2004
Bush Misleads Seniors on New Drug Cards
Less than a year ago, President Bush promised Americans that
he would
"provide seniors with a drug discount card that saves them
10 to 25% off the
cost of all drugs, so they'll start seeing savings immediately"
on their
medications (1). But, as the program launches next week, experts
have
concluded that the cards don't guarantee seniors any savings
at all (2).
Additionally, instead of admitting this, the President used millions
in
taxpayer money to promote the cards through television ads -
ads that
government regulators later said were misleading.
As the New York Times reports, the White House plan locks seniors
into the
cards they initially choose, then allows the card sponsors "to
change their
prices on a weekly basis," thus never guaranteeing any benefit
at all (3).
Instead of telling the seniors the truth when this reality became
apparent,
the President used tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds
to air
television ads promising that the drug cards will save seniors
money. Some
of the ads even used fake reporters in an effort to trick viewers
into
thinking they were watching objective news (4). The General Accounting
Office soon concluded that the ads contained "notable omissions
and errors"
(5).
One possible reason the President never forced card sponsors
to guarantee
savings could be Bush's relationship with a longtime Texas crony
and drug
card industry executive who could profit from bilking seniors.
According to
the Boston Globe, the President allowed David Halbert, CEO of
drug card
company AdvancePCS, to "craft the portion of the Medicare
bill" that created
the card program, even though Halbert had a financial interest
in the bill
and has had a close relationship with Bush for years (6). For
instance,
"Bush had been an investor in a Halbert-owned predecessor
company to
AdvancePCS" and Halbert "contributed to Bush campaigns
from his 1994
gubernatorial race through his White House bid in 2000."
Source:
1. President Bush Calls for Action on 38th Anniversary of Medicare,
07/30/2003, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1683368&l=31335.
2. "New Drug Card Called Passport To Confusion", Hartford
Courant,
04/25/2004,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1683368&l=31336.
3. "Feds will keep drug discount on the up and up",
Wichita Eagle,
12/11/2003,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1683368&l=31337.
4. "Publicity Campaign Under Scrutiny", ABC News, 03/15/2004,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1683368&l=31338.
5. "Bush Medicare Reform Bill Become a Nightmare for GOP",
Miami Herald,
03/19/2004,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1683368&l=31339.
6. "Bush ally's firm vies for Medicare cards", Boston
Globe, 12/12/2003,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1683368&l=31340.
Visit Misleader.org for more about Bush Administration distortion.
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1683368&l=31341
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