With elections only six weeks away, polls indicate that the prescription drug issue is an important one, particularly in the battleground states of the Midwest, and that Democrats are favored over Republicans. Joel Johnson, the White House policy adviser, traveling with the president in California, said the administration would not denounce the entire Republican package, but he said the proposals did not go far enough. Most Democrats favor legislation to create a new prescription drug benefit under Medicare, available to all recipients who want to pay for it, with subsidies for the less well off.
Republicans generally reject that approach.
In the House, the leadership pushed through an alternative earlier in the year that relies on subsidies to the pharmaceutical industry, in hopes that companies would offer prescription drug coverage to Medicare recipients. Low-income elderly people would receive help under the Republican approach, as well. Privacy Information Stay connected to the news that interests you with free e-mail alerts from The New York Times.