Candidates Respond to Medicare Questionnaire

"Candidates Respond to Medicare Questionnaire"

A Press Release from the Medicare Rights Center 
<dbeebe@medicarerights.org>:

January 16, 2003 

Presidential Candidates Respond to Medicare Rights Center 
Questionnaire

Five Democrats Stake Positions on Key Consumer Issues

Five Democratic presidential candidates responded to a 
Medicare Rights Center (MRC) questionnaire this month, 
expressing positions on nine Medicare consumer 
issues.  Participants in the survey as of January 16, 2004 
included Senator John Edwards, Senator John Kerry, 
Representative Dennis Kucinich, Senator Joseph Lieberman, 
and Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun. 

Candidate responses as of January 16, 2004 are available 
online: http://medicarerights.org/QuestResults01142004.pdf  

The questionnaire (with one-page background briefs) is also 
available online: 
http://www.medicarerights.org/MRC_Candidate_Questionnaire.pdf 

MRC identified the nine issues based on consumers' calls to 
its free helpline.  "Although Washington has focused on the 
new Medicare drug benefit this past year, there are many 
other issues of life-and-death importance to people with 
Medicare," said MRC President Robert M. Hayes. 

Senator John Edwards, Sen. John Kerry, and Representative 
Dennis Kucinich are distinguished as supporting all nine 
consumer reforms.  "We applaud Sen. Edwards, Sen. Kerry, 
and Rep. Kucinich for their bold leadership as defenders of 
older and disabled Americans," Hayes declared.

All five responding candidates supported four reforms: 

* Eliminating the 24-month waiting period for people with 
significant disabilities to get Medicare coverage;

* Making Medicare cover outpatient mental health care at 
80% of its approved rate, as Medicare does for all other 
outpatient medical services; 

* Expanding Medicare's coverage of durable medical 
equipment (e.g., wheelchairs) to include devices needed to 
function outside the home; and 

* Guaranteeing people who have Medicare because of 
disability the same right to access Medigap policies as 
people who have Medicare because of age.

MRC, still accepting candidates' responses to the 
questionnaire, challenged the remaining candidates-
including President Bush-to express positions on the nine 
questions.  "People with Medicare deserve to know where 
candidates for their nation's presidency stand on these 
critical issues," Hayes said. 

At the time of this release, the Bush-Cheney campaign had 
not responded to the questionnaire. The Dean campaign 
issued a broad statement which addressed some issues in the 
survey. The Clark and Gephardt campaigns reported that they 
were continuing to work on their responses. 


The Medicare Rights Center, founded in 1989, is the largest 
independent source of information and assistance on health 
care rights and benefits for older and disabled men and 
women in the United States. For more information about MRC, 
call 212-204-6219, or visit the MRC web site: 
www.medicarerights.org.

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