[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 133 (Friday, October 5, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H6413-H6414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  MEDICARE DRUG DISCOUNT SECURITY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to take a moment to talk about a 
very important issue for American seniors and that is a Medicare Drug 
Discount Security Act that myself and Senator Chuck Hagel introduced 
some time ago.
  The President of the United States recently announced his own plan 
that mirrored many of the things we tried to accomplish. We are very 
proud of our approach to providing seniors with discounts on 
prescription drugs. The President announced it in a ceremony at the 
Rose Garden and we were quite pleased that he had taken the direction 
by Executive Order. As many of my colleagues know, there was a lawsuit 
filed by the chain discount drugstores opposing the measure, and it 
resides now in Federal court.
  One of the interesting mythical dynamics that followed the 
President's announcement was groups saying that it was nothing more 
than window dressing. It was smoke screen. It was political posturing. 
It would not amount to much. It is insignificant. It is immaterial. It 
is not necessary, nor is it helpful. We heard that from a number of 
groups and a number of citizen and senior advocates. We were quite 
shocked because we thought, in a free society, a free market economy, 
when you are able to leverage the number of people participating, 
thereby getting them a discount on the prices they pay, that is a 
pretty simple and superb way in which to get seniors discounts now.

                              {time}  1245

  Others have objected to the plan saying it was not a good scheme. I 
questioned at the time if it is such a bad scheme, why do millions of 
Americans sign up to be AARP members? Usually it is because they get a 
discount on motel rates and other things.
  It was interesting, in the Washington Post of Tuesday, September 25, 
there was a headline, a new Kennedy campaign on drug cause, former 
House Member Joseph Kennedy, a Member of this body now in Boston, 
Massachusetts, has been using now and creating a drug delivery system 
under his Citizens Energy Corporation. This allows people to join 
together as members of that group in order to get a discount on 
prescriptions.
  It is interesting, when a Democrat, Mr. Kennedy, announces the plan, 
AARP says, it certainly is needed, says John Rother, policy director at 
AARP, a senior citizens advocate group advocating a prescription drug 
benefit for Medicare recipients. It goes on to talk about the discounts 
people will be able to receive. It goes on to suggest in this plan that 
although Citizen Help hopes to target the needy, Kennedy says the group 
does not have an elaborate screening process. He assumes well-to-do 
people will opt to stick with private insurance plans which charge on 
average 5 to 25 copayment for the prescription.
  That therein lies the political conundrum. When we announce it as 
Republicans, Senator Hagel and myself, and the President enunciates it 
from the White House, it is met with skepticism, scorn, and outright 
laughter. When a Democrat announces the plan, it becomes the focal 
point of how to save seniors money.
  Last year during the campaign season I remember Democrats taking a 
bus and taking seniors up to Canada because they could buy prescription 
drugs cheaper. Yes, I applaud that. I think it is great when you find a 
discount, even if you have to cross the border, but they used that as a 
political campaign and tool in which to defeat senators, by saying our 
seniors have to go to Canada to get a discount.
  Our plan, on the other hand, now mirrored by former Member Kennedy 
allows people to get discounts here in their own country. They do not 
have to get on a bus, they do not have to travel to Canada, and they 
can go to their local pharmacies. They can go to their local plans and 
get these kinds of discounts.
  So I would hope in the spirit of this wonderful new bipartisanship 
that has emanated out of this Chamber, since September 11 we get down 
to the business of helping seniors, Democrats, Republicans, 
Independents, get prescription drug coverage and get it more 
affordable, without creating a government scheme that will oftentimes 
be more complicated and more difficult for average seniors to access.
  I salute former Member Kennedy. I salute AARP for making the positive 
comments about our plan. I thank him for introducing it in the 
community where I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and I just hope 
other Democrats now listening to this and reading the newspapers will 
finally suggest that President Bush was right in announcing from the 
Oval Office, or at least from the Rose Garden, that he intended to help 
seniors today, not next year after debate, not the following year after 
debate, not 5 years from now when the political process winds itself up 
into a lather trying to provide it, but instead, doing it through the 
free enterprise system which Mr. Kennedy has done here in this plan.
  I urge my colleagues to look at our bill, Senator Hagel's in the 
Senate and

[[Page H6414]]

mine in the House. It is called the Medicare RX Drug Discount and 
Security Act. It is worthy of your attention. It will provide discounts 
up to 30 to 40 percent. It is easy. It is much like Price Club and 
Costco that so many Members probably use here today because they can 
buy in volume and buy at discounts. It is why people pay a card fee, 
$25 a year, to belong to that club. It lets them shop, buy by volume, 
by discount, and that is what we are trying to achieve here today. It 
works in real life.
  AARP has millions of members, using discount as an enticement. It has 
worked in the real world. It can work in the political world if the 
sides will not engage in negative attacks, but rather constructive 
dialogue in order to see this come to a fruition.

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