Speechless

June 12, 2004:

Food stamp recipients who get a Medicare drug discount card and $600 credit will see no reduction in their monthly stamp allotments, the Agriculture Department said yesterday.

The announcement of a revised policy was to clarify a disagreement between Medicare and state food stamp officials about whether the drug-card subsidy should be considered when calculating food stamps.

Some state officials cited USDA policy in arguing that, if household drug expenses decrease, more money should be available for food and less money should come from the government to pay for food. A USDA memo issued in March reinforced this view, noting that food stamp recipients "may not claim a medical deduction for the cost of any prescriptions they receive free through use of the card."

However, Mark McClellan, who runs the Medicare program, insisted that the Medicare law clearly said otherwise.

"New benefits . . . cannot take away any existing federal benefits," McClellan told Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle.

Compassionate conservative liars:

Elderly people with low incomes may lose some of their food stamps if they sign up for the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit, the Bush administration said yesterday.

When Medicare begins covering drugs in January, older Americans will spend less money on drugs and therefore will have more to spend on food, reducing the need for food stamps, officials said.

The new reading of the Medicare law, set forth in a document sent to congressional offices last week, comes just as federal officials begin a nationwide campaign to persuade low-income people to apply for the drug benefit.