Hatch hails AARP help on bill

WASHINGTON — Like a child who no longer fears bullies because they are afraid of his tough new friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch says a new Medicare prescription drug bill he helped negotiate should pass now that it is endorsed by the AARP.

"I think we'll get it through the Senate with the help of the AARP. Had not the AARP come on, it would be more difficult," said Hatch, who was a member of a House-Senate conference that for months worked out differences in that bill passed by both bodies.

The Utah Republican said support by senior groups like 60 Plus and the AARP, which even launched a $7 million ad campaign this week for it, make fighting the bill too politically risky and may bring the full wrath of senior voters if the bill fails.

"I think it will be very difficult for Democrats in the Senate to play politics with this. They are trying," he said. "Ted Kennedy and Tom Daschle and other liberals . . . want to shoot this down no matter what for fear that President Bush might get some credit." Hatch noted that several Democratic moderates are backing the bill.

Hatch said, "The only bill that has a chance of providing this type of a wonder benefit (of prescription drug coverage) for senior citizens is this one. If they want to kill the only chance that we have to do this — especially after all the work, effort and travail it's gone through — then it's going to hurt them badly, and I think it should."

Meanwhile, some Republicans are also opposing the bill because they don't like various parts of it. Hatch has a warning for them, too.

If it passes, "It's certainly not going to hurt the president and Republicans who have worked so doggone hard. We've been waiting close to 40 years" for a prescription drug benefit.

Hatch, however, said he can sympathize with some of the angst felt by members because he does not totally like the bill either.

"I worry about any federal program that costs $400 billion," he said. "It's never perfect, so we try to do the art of the doable, and the best we can. And this is pretty darn good."

Hatch, who has served on scores of House-Senate conferences through the years on many topics, said, "This was probably the most difficult conference I have ever been in. . . . We went over every word. It was hotly contested by the right, left, middle."

But Hatch said the final package preserves traditional Medicare for those who want it. But it gives incentives to join preferred-provider organizations and other kinds of private health care, plus the long-sought prescription coverage for those who choose it.

"This plan has flexibility, competition and choice. I don't know what more you can do," he said. "It's a monumental effort."

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E-mail: leed@dgsys.com

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