Little Rock - Wes Clark today announced his opposition to the Medicare bill."The bill coming out of Congress violates the basic principle of the Hippocratic oath -- do no harm," Clark said.

"The bill does nothing to curb the spiraling cost of prescription drugs. It amounts to a give-away to the HMOs. If the bill is not altered, two to three million seniors would be dropped from their current prescription drugs plans. Millions more would be forced into HMOs."

Wes Clark would support a bill to help make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors by speeding up the introduction of generic drugs and immediately authorizing the re-importation of prescription medications from Canada, subject to appropriate safeguards.

"It is not too late for Congress to come together on a genuinely bipartisan basis and pass an overdue prescription drug benefit that is comprehensive, meaningful and affordable, Clark said. "But this Republican-brokered deal is bad medicine for seniors. We shouldn't force seniors out of their current plans and into HMOs."