WASHINGTON — The Senate launched a new era in health care for the nation's seniors and disabled Tuesday, approving legislation that will create a long-sought Medicare prescription drug benefit while giving private insurance companies billions of dollars to lure beneficiaries away from the traditional program and into managed care.
The 54-44 vote, called historic by both supporters and opponents, followed the House's 220-215 vote taken before dawn Saturday. The 10-year, $400-billion Medicare reform bill now goes to President Bush, who said Tuesday he was eager to sign it into law.
The bill would set in motion the most sweeping changes to the nation's health care system since Medicare was established in 1965 as the bedrock of the Great Society.
Medicare graphic -- A chart in Section A on Wednesday outlining how the Medicare drug benefit will work starting in 2006 omitted some information about income levels. Medicare recipients with income of more than $14,505 and couples with income of more than $19,577 will be able to take part in the drug plan for a $35 monthly premium and a $250 annual deductible on drug costs. Their out-of-pocket expenses will be 25% of the next $2,000 in drug costs, 100% of the next $2,850 and 5% of additional costs over $5,100.
"Today is an extraordinary day," Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who coordinated Senate support for the bill, said before the vote. "Today is a fateful day. Today is a red-letter day for seniors."
Bush, who first promised a prescription drug benefit in his 2000 campaign, is eager to tout his success during his bid for reelection next year. During two campaign visits with seniors in Arizona and Nevada on Tuesday, he took credit for the legislation.
"Medicare has worked for many people," Bush told a group in Phoenix. "It got a little old, it got a little tired, it needed to be changed. We changed it, and the system is better for it."
Passage of the Medicare bill, which Bush is expected to sign as early as next week, helps the president fulfill a campaign promise and claim victory on an issue that has long been associated with Democrats.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who voted for an earlier Medicare bill but led the opposition to the new one, warned that the subsidies for private health plans would undermine traditional Medicare. "The Senate should stand with the elderly and their families and reject this legislation," he said.
But in the end, 11 Democrats joined 42 Republicans and one independent in support of the bill. Nine Republicans and 35 Democrats voted against it.
Two senators, Democratic presidential candidates John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, had been in Washington to vote against the bill on Monday but left when the vote was delayed. California's Democratic senators were split, with Barbara Boxer voting against the bill and Dianne Feinstein supporting it.
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