Bush signs $400bn healthcare overhaul bill

US President George W Bush yesterday signed into law a $400 billion (€327bn) overhaul of the Medicare old-age health system in nearly four decades, which includes for the first time a prescription-drug benefit for seniors.

Mr Bush said the measure, estimated to cost $400 billion over the next 10 years, would give older Americans “better choices and more control over their healthcare, so they can receive the modern medical care they deserve.”

Overall, the new law will carry out the most extensive changes since Medicare’s creation in 1965. It adds a prescription drug benefit beginning in 2006.

At the same time, it encourages insurance companies to offer private plans to millions of older Americans who now receive health care benefits under terms fixed by the federal government. Leading Democrats have charged this would lead to the destruction of the Medicare program.

Beginning next May, seniors can buy a Medicare-approved discount card for $30 or less to help offset the growing costs of prescriptions.

Mr Bush had promised such a measure as part of his 2000 presidential campaign, seeking to capitalise on an issue usually associated with Democrats.

However, the Republican-written legislation has come under fire from all nine Democratic presidential candidates, a host of Democratic lawmakers and some fiscal conservatives opposed to its price tag.