New Ad: Wicker Takes Thousands From Insurance Companies, Then Votes Against Medicare For Seniors, Military Families

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Narrator: In Mississippi, we have….

Narrator: Four thirty-nine thousand Medicare patients and one hundred fifteen thousand military families affected by Medicare rates.

Visual: 439,000 Medicare Patients
115,000 Military Families

In MS, Nearly 439,000 Medicare Beneficiaries and 115,000 TRICARE Beneficiaries Would Be Hit by Cuts. According to an American Medical Association factsheet regarding the proposed payment reductions, “438,602 Medicare patients and 115,220 TRICARE patients in Mississippi will be affected by these cuts.” [American Medical Association, 4/08]

Narrator: When Roger Wicker Voted Three Times to cut reimbursements to Doctors who treat these patients

Visual: Roger Wicker
Voted 3 times to cut reimbursements             

Twice in Two Weeks, Wicker Voted to Force a “Deep” 10.6% Cut in Medicare Payments. In June 2008, Wicker cast the deciding vote against a plan to delay a 10.6% cut in Medicare payments to doctors. Two weeks later, Wicker was one of just 30 Senators to once again vote to cut Medicare payments. [Vote 160, 6/26/08; Vote 169, 7/9/08; Washington Post, 6/28/08; CQ Today, 6/26/08]

Wicker Voted Against Initial Plan Restore Payments In Early June. According to the Associated Press, “payment rates are set to drop by 10.6 percent July 1 as a result of a formula that calls for cuts when spending exceeds established goals. Senate Democratic leaders tried to advance a bill costing $19.8 billion over five years and paid for mainly by phasing out some payments to insurers. The vote was 54-39, short of the three-fifths majority needed.” Wicker was among those voting against the measure. [Vote 149, 6/12/08; Associated Press, 6/12/08]

• Headline: “GOP Blocks Consideration of Medicare bill.” [Associated Press, 6/12/08]

Clarion Ledger: Wicker Voted “To Block a Bill That Would Have Averted Fee Cuts for Doctors Who Treat Medicare Patients.” Wrote the Clarion Ledger, Wicker is “under attack from the American Medical Association for voting to block a bill that would have averted fee cuts for doctors who treat Medicare patients…The bill would have eliminated the fee cuts for the doctors by instead reducing payments to insurance companies.” [Clarion Ledger, 7/3/08]

Vote Would Have Cost Mississippi doctors $110 million in the first year and a half. The American Medical Association says that the Medicare payment cuts for physician services would have cost Mississippi physicians $110 million from July 2008 to December 2009 alone. [American Medical Association]

Narrator: He was voting with the insurance industry that gave him one-hundred and seventy-three thousand dollars

Visual: Roger Wicker
Voting with the Insurance Industry
Insurance Industry $173,000      
Source: Center for Responsive Politics

Wicker Voted to Protect Payments to Private Insurance Companies Instead of Care For Our Veterans, Seniors. According to the Clarion-Ledger, “the bill would restore a 10.6 percent cut in pay to doctors that treat Medicare's elderly patients. The reduction in pay also would affect doctors who treat veterans, military retirees and their dependents under the Pentagon's Tricare program, which relies on Medicare to pay doctors. Cochran and Wicker objected that money to restore those cuts would be taken from payments to insurance companies under the Medicare Advantage plan, a semi-private plan used by some seniors.” The article noted that “the senators were backed by a group of insurers, America's Health Insurance Plans.” [Clarion Ledger, 7/10/08]

Insurance Trade Group Opposed Restoring Payments to Doctors. According to the New York Times, “Insurance companies and the White House argue that the bill would hurt beneficiaries who rely on private Medicare plans. America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, ran television advertisements last week, urging Congress to “stop cuts to Medicare Advantage.”” The bill in question was the measure Wicker voted against, restoring payments to physicians “by reducing federal payments to insurance companies that offer private Medicare Advantage plans as an alternative to the traditional government-run Medicare program.” [New York Times, 7/7/08]

AMA: Wicker Voted to Protect Powerful Insurance Companies At Expense of Seniors. The American Medical Association ran ads in Mississippi targeting Senators Wicker and Cochran for their opposition to HR 6331. The ad accused Wicker of protecting insurance companies instead of Medicare patients. Say the ads, “there's no celebrating for the millions of seniors, the disabled and military families who will lose their access to health care. A group of U.S. senators voted to protect the powerful insurance companies at the expense of Medicare patients' access to doctors.” [Clarion Ledger, 7/3/08; Chicago Tribune, 7/3/08; Associated Press, 7/2/08]

Wicker Has Received $173,004 From the Insurance Industry.  Since his first run for Congress, Wicker has received at least $173,004 in campaign contributions from the insurance industry.  [Center for Responsive Politics]

Narrator: Roger Wicker. Playing Politics with the lives our families, neighbors and friends

Visual: Roger Wicker
Playing Politics

Narrator: The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Is Responsible for the content of this advertising

Title: Paid for by The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. www.dscc.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.