Watch On The Media

Liability & Insurance Week, Dec 8, 2003

The Wall Street Journal published an opinion article on its Dec. 4 editorial page by William D. Novelli, the CEO of AARP, who angered Democrats when his 35-million-member organization endorsed the recently passed Medicare prescription-drug bill. He said his organization backed the legislation "for one reason only - it will provide important prescription-drug coverage and financial relief for millions of current and future Medicare beneficiaries."

He called the accusation the organization's leadership was out of touch with its members false. AARP's surveys showed its members "were tired of waiting for Congress to fix this problem, keep its promise and craft the perfect bill," he said.

The most promising aspect of the new bill, he wrote, "is that it adds new preventive services for all Medicare beneficiaries, and provides a new benefit to better manage care for those with chronic conditions." He served notice AARP would push Congress to improve the new legislation, "including making legal the importation of prescription drugs from Canada."