Tennessee: U.S. Senate

Candidates

Lamar Alexander, Republican
Bob Clement, Democrat

Issues: Prescription Drugs | Social Security | Health Care |

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Question

Many people with Medicare lack adequate coverage for prescription drugs and face skyrocketing costs. What solution do you support to help Medicare beneficiaries pay for their drugs?

AARP Response

AARP believes an acceptable Medicare drug benefit needs to meet the following tests:

First, the benefit must offer real value at an affordable price. The monthly premium should be less than $35. The beneficiary’s deductible and co-payments should be reasonable and affordable, (e.g. a deductible no greater than $250). There should be no gaps in coverage, leaving persons to pay 100% of high out-of-pocket costs.

Second, the benefit should be available to all Medicare beneficiaries on a voluntary basis. No one should be forced into the program. But no one should also be denied access to a Medicare drug benefit because of where they live, how sick they might be, or how much or how little income they have.

Third, the plan must help bring down soaring drug costs.

Fourth, the plan must include additional help for low-income persons.

Issue	Yes	No	Unclear
Creates an affordable monthly premium
Supports a fair deductible and co-payment
Provides no gaps in coverage

Candidate Response: Lamar Alexander

Congress should pass a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients this year; if Congress doesn’t, I’ll make it a priority in the Senate. The cost of prescription drugs is continuing to rise, and American seniors are having a hard time covering their health care costs. A strong prescription drug benefit should meet four critical criteria:

• It should be comprehensive - provide a solid, up-front benefit, enhance coverage for low-income seniors, and include a provision for catastrophic coverage.
  
  
• It should be affordable - allowing for a reasonable deductible and co-payment.
  
  
• It should be fiscally sound - structured in such a way as to avoid bankrupting Medicare.
  
  
• It should strengthen Medicare - benefit packages should better account for updated drugs and technologies.
  
  

Candidate Response: Bob Clement

First, I believe that a prescription drug benefit should be added to Medicare. This is the easiest and most efficient solution available. Second, I think we should prevent big drug companies from charging U.S. citizens twice as much for American-made drugs that people in Canada, Europe and Asia are buying for half price. To do this we can pass a law saying that Americans cannot be charged more than the average cost of what a drug is being sold for on the foreign market. If this legislation cannot be passed, I think we should be able to re-import prescription drugs so that U.S. citizens can pay what others are paying in other countries.

Question

Do you support or oppose replacing part of Social Security with individual accounts?

AARP Response

AARP strongly opposes replacing ANY part of Social Security with individual accounts. Social Security is not in crisis. Without any changes in current law, Social Security can pay 100% of benefits until 2041. But individual accounts funded with Social Security dollars mean Social Security would face financial problems sooner.

"Personal control" sounds appealing. But substituting private accounts, even for part of Social Security, drains money from Social Security, which means less money to pay guaranteed benefits.

Creating these private accounts requires trading today’s inflation-protected lifetime guaranteed benefit for an account subject to market risk and not guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Inflation, market turns, or sudden loss of employment can also mean that your private account may not have enough money to provide an adequate benefit. AARP supports options that help Americans save for their retirement through individual accounts on top of Social Security; but opposes replacing any part of Social Security’s guaranteed benefit.

Issue	Yes	No	Unclear
Creates individual accounts out of Social Security
Position means less money for guaranteed benefits
Position guarantees benefits for your lifetime

Candidate Response: Lamar Alexander

I will not support any proposal that reduces the guaranteed Social Security benefits upon which our nation’s seniors depend. Seniors rely on their monthly Social Security check. We should stop spending money in the Social Security Trust Fund and replacing that money with government IOUs. As long as we do not undermine these guaranteed benefits, I am willing to consider a pilot program allowing young Americans to choose to invest some of their social security money in a private retirement account over which they have more control.

Candidate Response: Bob Clement

I adamantly oppose replacing part of Social Security with individual accounts. The long- term solvency of Social Security must be a priority of the U.S. government. Social Security is a contract between the government and the American people and it must be honored and protected by all means necessary. In order to avoid cutting benefits or raising the retirement age, we must increase the return on our investment and not make frivolous cuts that will threaten its solvency. A social security surplus must be used only for paying benefits to our retirees and not to fund other government expenditures. Also, a prescription drug benefit should definitely be added to Medicare.

Question

In the face of escalating costs, how would you reform the health care system to make it available, affordable and accessible for every American?

AARP Response

AARP supports measures to achieve access to affordable health care coverage for all individuals, an approach that would address the needs of those without public or private insurance or those at risk of losing coverage.

In the absence of universal coverage, AARP supports incremental reforms specifically targeted to particular populations that significantly improve coverage options for those without public or private insurance or those at risk for losing coverage.

These reforms include:

• Opening existing public programs (e.g. Medicaid) to new categories of people who are uninsured;
  
  
• Inducing employers to offer coverage;
  
  
• Subsidizing the cost of private coverage for those who are uninsured, underinsured, or at risk of losing coverage;
  
  
• Expanding the continuation of group health care coverage at group rates to persons whose access is ending (e.g. expanding COBRA coverage).
  
  

Issue	Yes	No	Unclear
Supports health care for all Americans
Proposes steps to cover more people

Candidate Response: Lamar Alexander

The cost of health care is growing for every American, and we must act to make sure our health care system can meet all Americans’ needs. A national, mandatory health care bureaucracy is not the answer. Neither are new government programs. Rather, we must strengthen Medicaid and state Medicaid substitute programs, like TennCare. We should:

• Put patients first
  
  
• Promote patient satisfaction and responsibility
  
  
• Allow provider participation
  
  
• Encourage patient and provider education
  
  
• Allow patient choice in plans
  
  
• Encourage flexible benefit packages tailored to patient need
  
  
• Focus resources on the truly needy
  
  
• Promote Medicaid best practices
  
  
• Reduce bureaucracy and the number of bureaucrats
  
  
• Reduce waste, fraud and abuse
  
  
• Ensure Medicaid remains solvent in the future.
  
  

Candidate Response: Bob Clement

Every American deserves the security of affordable health care. I would fight to lower the cost of prescription drugs to make them affordable to all Americans. We must continue to expand Medicaid coverage and extend the reach of Medicare. It is imperative that we push health services into our inner-cities and out to our rural communities. I support the inclusion of mental health services in insurance policies. I also support the ongoing battle against big HMO’s and reducing the steadily rising premiums that they are charging for employer-sponsored insurance. In addition to this, we must provide tax incentives to our steadily rising population of self-employed workers for investing in private health coverage.