Democratic hopefuls blast Republican Medicare plan

from Forbes bq. Howard Dean waved his stethoscope, Joseph Lieberman brought his 89-year-old mother and John Edwards touted his new book to underscore their opposition to a Medicare bill during a Democratic presidential forum on Tuesday. bq. Six of the nine Democrats vying for the right to challenge President George W. Bush in 2004 lambasted the $400 billion, 10-year Republican-crafted measure that adds a prescription drug benefit to the health insurance program for the elderly, but squabbled among themselves over how best to fix it. and ABC News bq. Turning on their host, several of the Democratic presidential candidates scolded the powerful AARP for endorsing a Republican-backed Medicare prescription drug bill that they argued would do long-term damage to the federal program for seniors. bq. Six of the nine candidates participated in the morning forum sponsored by the 35 million-member organization that represents Americans age 50 or older. The AARP's sponsorship didn't stop the Democrats from assailing the bill or the group, which in a boost to the GOP and President Bush on Monday announced its support for the legislation. It goes on: bq. The measure would create a new prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries beginning in 2006. It also would establish a new role for insurance companies, encouraging them to offer a new private health coverage plan for elderly Americans. bq. The bill creates a political challenge for the Democratic candidates, who would like to provide prescription drug coverage to seniors, a critical voting bloc, but are loath to hand President Bush a legislative victory less than a year before the election. Gee - maybe if the Democrats had some real candidates instead of the seven dwarves that have now, they wouldn't be feeling that sense of eminent panic...