SeniorCare: A Model for Keeping Health Care Costs Down September 8, 2009 The announcement that the Obama administration will allow Wisconsin to continue its popular SeniorCare prescription drug program through 2013 is a victory for tens of thousands of seniors across our state. SeniorCare works, plain and simple, and I was proud to lead an effort, along with the entire Wisconsin congressional delegation, to extend this vital program for another three years. With a major health care debate underway in Congress, policymakers could learn a lot from SeniorCare, which manages to both keep costs down and offer the highest quality care. Since it began in September 2002, SeniorCare has served more than 123,000 seniors across the state. I have heard time and again from seniors who give the program high marks, preferring SeniorCare to the prescription drug program under Medicare, known as Medicare Part D. SeniorCare is a high quality program that also manages to cost the government much less per person than Medicare Part D. The average annual federal subsidy for a SeniorCare waiver participant is $588, nearly one-third of the $1,690 the federal government spends to subsidize a Medicare Part D participant. As a result, SeniorCare has saved the federal government hundreds of millions in Medicaid funding over the years. These savings are the direct result of reduced Medicaid payments for hospital and nursing home care because seniors with SeniorCare prescription drug coverage have stayed healthier longer. Another way SeniorCare keeps costs down is by negotiating lower drug prices, which, according to an AARP study, means 94 percent of SeniorCare participants are better off under SeniorCare than they would be under Medicare Part D. That negotiation power is a key to SeniorCare’s success, and it’s a power that the Medicare program itself lacks. Granting Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices, as I have voted to do in the Senate, would be one important way to improve Medicare Part D for seniors nationwide. SeniorCare offers numerous lessons in the broader debate over health care reform. The program offers choice and quality, but still manages to cost less than its equivalent program under Medicare. As Congress faces the challenge of controlling health care costs in any reform bill, they should look to Wisconsin as a model for high quality, low cost care. I am pleased Wisconsin seniors will get continued access to SeniorCare, and I will continue to tell my colleagues in Washington about the success of this vital program.