Barry Rand Supports Obama’s Healthcare Plan

President Obama has hailed a “historic agreement [with drug companies] to lower drugs costs” for older Americans, although some still doubted the government would reap in savings. The government wants to use the savings to pay for coverage of the uninsured.

This could be a boon to Medicare beneficiaries, and AARP praised the deal, under which the lobby for drug companies, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said it had pledged $80 billion over 10 years to help “reform our troubled health care system.”

In a move that will please millions of Medicare beneficiaries, President Obama announced plans to cut in half the prescription drug expenses of those who fall into the Part D coverage gap, universally known as the doughnut hole. They would only pay 50 percent of the cost of brand-name medications in the gap instead of the 100 percent they must pay now.

The new benefit is expected to be part of health care reform legislation that Congress will consider later this fall. If passed, it will likely go into effect in July 2010.

Reforming healthcare is one of Obama’s top priorities because about 40 million Americans have no health insurance, and healthcare costs have skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. He’s facing a big fight with those living off the current system.

Fortunately, AARP President Barry Rand is not one of them. In fact, Rand wants to help the president to get something for ordinary Americans. He was there yesterday when Obama unveiled the deal with Big Pharma.

We need more like him -- a high achieving African American lending a hand to help pass this important legislation. After all, a lot more African Americans have no health insurance as a percentage of the general population.