Misgivings over the tremendous cost of the Medicare prescription-drug program shouldn't overshadow its greatest strength: The protection it offers to low-income seniors who might be forced to choose between life-saving medicines and food. The program - for all its complexity and cost - will extend drug coverage to more than a million low-income people who otherwise would pay more than $4,000 a year for prescription drugs.

A group of Senate Republicans on Tuesday called for more cuts in Medicaid and Medicare spending, including a two-year delay in the prescription drug subsidy. Such a delay would be a huge disappointment to senior citizens who need the help, according to Mary Grealy, president of the Healthcare Leadership Council.

"It would be very difficult for anyone to say we should delay for another two years what they've already waited 40 years to receive," she said during a telephone news conference Wednesday.

Grealy's organization, which is leading the efforts of Medicare Today, a coalition of more than 350 groups, this week released the first state-by-state analysis of how many people would be affected by the prescription drug program's catastrophic coverage provisions.

The numbers are humbling in terms of how many seniors are now without catastrophic coverage and how much money low-income seniors will save with the Medicare Part D plan.

In Indiana, there are 410,000 Medicare beneficiaries without catastrophic drug coverage; 168,000 of them are at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level, according to the study.

With the program that goes into effect Jan. 1, their out-of-pocket costs will be cut to $161 a year. For all Hoosier Medicare beneficiaries, the out-of-pocket average will be cut from $1,844 to $778.

Approved by Congress in 2003, the largest expansion of benefits in Medicare's 40-year history is expected to cost taxpayers $400 billion over 10 years by subsidizing the cost of private and employer-sponsored health insurance plans.

As the debate continues over federal spending, the prescription program is certain to remain in the crosshairs for budget-cutters. Any discussion of cuts should note Medicare Today's timely reminder that 1.5 million low-income elderly spend more than a quarter of their annual income on the medicines they need to battle heart disease, cancer and other devastating illnesses. They don't deserve to bear the burden for runaway spending.

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