Thursday, August 12, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

If elected, Kerry would rewrite portions of Medicare reform bill

Presidential candidate John Kerry speaks to senior citizens Wednesday at the Valley View Recreation Center in Henderson. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told an invited crowd of seniors Wednesday he would scrap portions of the Medicare reform bill, which he said he "proudly and rightly" voted against as senator.

Kerry's remarks drew applause from the group of 300 seniors at the Valley View Recreation Center in Henderson. About half of the group was invited by the Alliance for Retired Americans, a 3-million member organization that formally endorsed Kerry's campaign Wednesday.

"John Kerry stands with seniors and will be a people over profits president," alliance president George Kourpias said.

Kerry said he would rewrite the bill to permit bulk purchasing of drugs by the government and to permit the re-importation of drugs from Canada.

He cited large disparities between the cost of four drugs in the two countries, with Americans paying three and four times as much as Canadians.

"I'm for a real prescription drug benefit that covers people without a pricing scheme that actually has you paying more," Kerry said during the hourlong event.

Kerry said he did not want to repeal the bill, but "fix it."

The Bush-Cheney campaign criticized Kerry for talking about Medicare, pointing out that he missed the final conference committee report of the bill because he was campaigning for president.

Three Nevada doctors also held a news conference for the Bush-Cheney campaign during which they criticized Kerry's efforts to block medical liability reform.

"In the past week John Kerry and John Edwards have traveled through numerous states desperately in need of medical liability reform," said Dr. Rudy Manthei, the leader of a ballot initiative seeking to remove exceptions to caps on jury awards in medical malpractice cases.

Manthei noted that Bush visited a Las Vegas hospital in November to discuss malpractice reform, making it a key priority.

Dr. Allan Boruszak said Kerry's selection of Edwards, a former trial attorney with deep financial connections to that profession, is a blow to Nevada.

"You cannot support trial lawyers and low health care costs at the same time," Boruszak said.

Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, made her first remarks to Southern Nevada at the event, taking the microphone to address her views on health care.

"If you don't focus on prevention and wellness, you die," she said. "Wellness and prevention has to be No. 1 in my book. It's kinder to people. It's cheaper. It's affordable and it's just a lot more fun."

During the event, Kerry won applause for pledging support to another top senior concern.

"I will never privatize Social Security," Kerry said. "I will not cut the benefits and I will not raise the retirement age. Period."