New Drug Plan’s Costs and Benefits

Re “ ‘Historic’ Day for America’s Seniors, Bush,” Dec. 9: It is amazing that many Democrats are so against the Medicare bill giving prescription drug benefits so generously to seniors. This is the sort of legislation that they would have been eager to promote -- if they had only drafted and presented it. But since it is a law submitted by Republicans, they fall all over themselves railing against it.

As a more fiscally conservative person than the president seems to be, to me this bill seems way too socialistic. I wouldn’t agree with this bill if it was presented by the Democrats; why should I accept it just because the so-called conservative party has written it? This bill is not the end of Medicare, as the Democrats bleat, but rather a fantastic expansion of the entitlement society. Those of us working in the private sector should be loudly against this further mortgaging of our future earnings. This is going in the wrong direction.

Bob McCarter

Aliso Viejo

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Rather than playing partisan politics, our elected officials in Washington could have shown real leadership and addressed the obscene cost of prescription drugs. The current plan is a boon to the drug industry and seniors, while laying the $400-billion tab on the backs of taxpayers and our children.

Kate Pretorius

Redlands

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In debates about the new Medicare law, the Republican-led Congress quickly killed a bill that would have applied the new Medicare drug coverage plan to members of Congress (who have more generous coverage). The pharmaceutical industry, which has donated heavily to Republicans, loves the law, primarily because it won’t allow the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare recipients and it won’t allow for the importation of cheaper drugs from places like Canada. The new coverage won’t really take effect until 2006, long after next year’s election. Perhaps President Bush and Republicans were afraid that if the main provisions of the law kicked in before the election, seniors might have time to realize how little coverage they were receiving.

Felice Sussman

Los Alamitos

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Re “A Bill Only a Drug Maker Could Love,” Opinion, Dec. 7: We have supported the modernization of Medicare because medicines today play a far more vital role in health care than they did in 1965, when Medicare was enacted. Greg Critser’s characterization of our Florida program is wrong. We have clearly demonstrated that informed patients who have access to the health-care system and modern medicines have better health outcomes at a lower cost to the Medicaid system. This innovative program improves the lives of 12,000 significantly at-risk patients suffering from hypertension, congestive heart failure, diabetes or asthma.

Our company is investing $7 billion in high-risk medical research and development. In La Jolla, Calif., we employ more than 1,000 people dedicated to finding next-generation treatments for cancer, diabetes, obesity, viral infections and a variety of ophthalmic conditions. We are also making all of our medicines available to low-income Americans through a variety of support programs.

Chuck Hardwick

Senior Vice President

Pfizer Inc.

New York City