Chicago, July 6 -
Asking repeatedly "Whose side are you on ?,"Vice President Al Gore today drew a sharp contrast between his Medicare proposals and those of Gov. George W. Bush. He branded Mr. Bush, his likely Republican opponent, the candidate of powerful industries.
Mr. Gore lectured with charts and graphs at a suburban senior citizens' center, seeking to put a debate over Medicare, the popular Great Society health insurance program for the elderly, at the forefront of the campaign agenda.
He said he would devote $339 billion to shoring up the program during the next decade and adding a new prescription drug benefit for all Medicare beneficiaries. Mr. Bush, he said, had allocated "not one dime in his proposal for extending, strengthening, adding to Medicare. Not a penny."
Time and again, Mr. Gore directed pointed and detailed questions at Mr. Bush, who rarely talks about Medicare. The governor has put forward broad priciples - but little detail - for creating more competition between private and public health plans to overhaul Medicare for the retirement of the baby boom generation.
Turning to Medicare questions for which Mr. Bush has not provided specific answers, Mr. Gore asked whether Mr. Bush supported raising the eligibility age, or raising premiums, or sending more recipients to health maintenance organizations.
"If Medicare is important to you, these questions are something you should know the answer to," Mr. Gore told the audience of local elderly residents.
The vice president also used a version of an old union organizing slogan about choosing sides as he tried to frame the presidential election.
"In this election for president," he said, "the fundamental choice has to do with whose side are you on. I want to fight for the people; the other side fights for the powerful."
"And that's why the big pharmaceutical companies are supporting Governor Bush," Mr. Gore said. "That's why the big oil companies are supporting Governor Bush. That's why the big polluters are supporting Governor Bush. That's why the H.M.O.s and insurance companies are supporting Governor Bush."
Today's debate about Medicare was a sign of a new stage in the Gore campaign. This spring he repeatedly denounced Mr. Bush's policy proposals as "risky". Then he stepped back and detailed some new policy proposals of his own. Now he is trying to start drawing the contrasts between his own ideas and those of Mr. Bush.
Medicare is traditionally an issue that plays to the advantage of Democrats. So far this year it has not had the prominence in the presidential race that Social Security has had, even though experts say it faces the possibility of insolvency earlier than the retirement program does.
1. "Bush and Gore on the Future of Social Security and Medicare".
2. "Gore's Plans for Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds".
3. "Gore Proposes Tapping Budget Surplus for Medicare Prescription-Drug Benefit".
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