Reform helps seniors

Expansion in Medicare benefits

• Law will eliminate the “doughnut hole.” It will provide a $250 payment to seniors who fall into this coverage gap and gradually phase out the doughnut hole. It will provide a 50 percent brand-name drug discount to seniors during this phase-out period.

• The law will provide preventive care to Medicare beneficiaries.

Extending solvency of Medicare

• The law will crack down on waste and curtail excessive payments to private insurers under the Medicare program.

• Reforms will extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by nine years.

Early retiree re-insurance program

• The law will establish a new early retiree re-insurance program to help pay for part of the costs incurred by employers and VEBAs in providing health care coverage to early retirees, along with their spouses and dependents – to encourage employers and VEBAs to continue health care coverage.

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How past U.S. presidents treated health care reform

In 1854 President Franklin Pierce vetoed a national mental health bill saying personal health isn’t a government matter.

Former President Theodore Roosevelt, as the Progressive Party candidate, called for national health care in 1912.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law in 1935, but he left out national health insurance because of opposition from organized medicine.

In 1945 President Harry Truman recommended a national health insurance program, but it went nowhere.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law in 1965.

In 1971 Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy, D-Mass., offered his national health insurance plan. But this measure never was taken up by the Senate.

President Bill Clinton proposed reworking the health care system with universal coverage in 1993. His wife, Hillary Clinton, led the charge, but Republicans succeeded in killing the legislation.

In 2003 President George W. Bush signed a law adding prescription drugs to Medicare.

Participants applaud in the East Room of the White House in Washington, after President Barack Obama, flanked by Macelas Owens of Seattle, left, and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., signed the historic health care reform bill on March 23. Photo: AP

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