The latest version of health-care reform in Congress threatens important Medicare benefits that many South Dakotans rely upon, Republican Sen. John Thune said Wednesday.

But Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson said the reform proposal being pushed by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana would maintain Medicare benefits and make the system more financially secure.

The two South Dakota senators try to avoid confronting each other on key policy points. But they clearly disagree on the Baucus bill and its impacts on Medicare.

During a telephone conference call with reporters, Thune complimented Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, for presenting a plan that doesn't include an especially controversial public health-insurance option.

But Thune said the Baucus plan's goal of finding $500 billion in the existing Medicare program is unrealistic. The federal government is not likely to find such savings, he said.

"The payoff is $500 billion out of Medicare, the assumption being that we'll attack waste, fraud and abuse," Thune said. "Well, that's great. We all ought to be trying to get waste, fraud and abuse out of the Medicare program. But I don't think that's going to get the kind of dollars that are being talked about."

If that money can be found, it's likely to come at the expense of Medicare recipients, Thune said.

"To get to $500 billion in savings, there's going to be some pain," he said.

Thune pointed to the Medicare Advantage program that allows seniors to receive coverage through private insurers. More than 8,000 South Dakotans take advantage of the program, which would see spending cuts in the Baucus plan.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects a reduction in benefits for those privately managed Medicare plans under the Baucus proposal.

Johnson said it's too early to judge the plan, which is just now being debated point by point in the Finance Committee. With more than 500 potential amendments, the difficult work is far from finished, he said.

But the plan has the potential to help expand health coverage to those who can't afford it now and prevent those who have it now from losing it because of cost or changing medical conditions, Johnson said. And it assures coverage for workers from job to job and provides coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, he said.

Johnson believes the plan can be implemented without loss of Medicare benefits.

"It doesn't hurt Medicare. It helps Medicare," he said.

Baucus contends that the plan can work without cutting benefits in the Medicare program and instead will make the system more efficient and save money to extend its viability. The plan also would provide discounts on brand-name prescription drugs for seniors in a mid-level Medicare coverage gap known as the "doughnut hole," a Finance Committee report said.

Baucus is working to save the core of health-care reform provisions sought by President Barack Obama, minus the public option. And the White House contends that more than $100 billion can be saved over the next decade by ending overpayments to private insurers in the Medicare Advantage program.

Johnson said the rising cost of health care threatens to force more individuals out of insurance coverage and make more businesses reduce or drop employer-supported plans. The Baucus plan is "a solid starting point" to revise a system that is failing under the weight of its own costs, Johnson said.

"The path we are on is unsustainable for our economy, and we must find a compromise that provides affordable, quality health care," he said.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com