Features

The Associated Press 

SACRAMENTO — Californians should pay special attention to the prescription drug debate between the presidential candidates, a state Assembly member said Wednesday. 

At a press conference touting the drug plan proposed by Democratic candidate Al Gore, Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, D-Davis, said the prescription drug plan proposed by Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush would leave too many middle-class seniors without coverage. 

The high cost of living in California makes it even more difficult for seniors on fixed incomes to afford thousands of dollars in prescription drugs, she said. 

Thomson, a registered nurse who chairs the Assembly Health Committee, said she is working on a plan to help California seniors afford drug coverage, but would not give specifics. 

“Senator Jackie Speier and I have been discussing how we might address that problem here,” Thomson said.  

“I’m more concerned right now about what will happen nationally.” 

Vice President Gore wants to spend $253 billion over 10 years to provide drug coverage under Medicare. 

Bush pledged to spend $158 billion in grants to states while phasing in private-market competition for Medicare over ten years. 

“What the Gore plan does is increase government intrusion. It’s Hillary-care of prescription drug plans,” said Bush spokeswoman Lindsey Kozberg. 

The Bush plan would fully cover prescription drugs issued to low-income seniors, the people in most dire need of assistance, while implementing long-term changes to Medicare, Kozberg said. 

Critics of the plan say high drug costs also hurt middle income seniors, who are not fully covered by the Bush plan. 

Low-income seniors are defined by the Bush campaign as earning less than 135 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of two, the poverty level is about $16,900.