[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 21, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H2664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 23, 2002, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to stress again, as I have many 
times over the last 2 weeks, the fact that the Republican leadership 
has not brought up any type of prescription drug benefit. Two or 3 
weeks ago we saw members of the Republican leadership in both the 
committees and various leadership positions say they were going to 
bring up a prescription drug benefit for seniors. They committed to the 
fact that that would be in committee last week. It would be reported 
out to the floor of the House, and would be voted on the floor this 
week before the Memorial Day recess. All of a sudden we hear nothing 
about it, no mention of trying to bring any action in committee, no 
specifics about what they might bring up, certainly no effort to bring 
anything to the floor.
  I have said over and over again, this is the biggest crisis facing 
the American people, particularly seniors. I have seniors every day 
that call me up and say they cannot afford prescription drugs. What we 
need to do and what the Democrats have been saying over and over again 
is that we should simply provide a prescription drug benefit under 
Medicare so that every senior has a guaranteed benefit, and in the same 
way they have their hospital bills paid for by Medicare, or doctor 
bills paid for by Medicare Part B, there should be a new Part C or D 
under Medicare where they pay a very low premium, a very low deductible 
per month, and the Federal Government pays at least 80 percent of the 
cost of their prescription drug bills.
  We need to bring the cost of prescription drugs down. Seniors and 
people in general, Americans in general, cannot afford prescription 
drugs because of the increased costs. We have had double-digit 
inflation with regard to drug prices for the last 6 years. The 
Republicans refuse to provide a Medicare prescription drug benefit for 
seniors, and refuse to address the issue of cost. If we had all seniors 
under a Medicare program, as the Democrats have proposed, 40 million 
seniors, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would be able to 
negotiate reduced prices for prescription drugs because the government 
would have the negotiating power of all of the seniors in the United 
States, 40 million strong.
  We must address the issue of cost and provide a Medicare benefit that 
includes prescription drugs. I do not understand why my colleagues 
continue to drag on the issue. Some of the talk is maybe they will 
provide a low-income benefit for just the poorest seniors, under 10 
percent of the seniors. Other times we hear about their proposals to 
privatize, in other words, take some money and throw it to insurance 
companies and hope that they will provide some sort of drug-only policy 
for those seniors who might be able to find an insurance company that 
will sell them such a policy.
  But these ideas on the Republican side about throwing some money to 
insurance companies, trying to help those with low income, they do not 
get to the real problem and the real solution, and that is a nationwide 
Medicare prescription drug benefit that every senior has and every 
senior is guaranteed. We have seen now for 30 years how effective the 
Medicare program is in terms of taking care of hospital bills and 
taking care of doctors' bills.
  Mr. Speaker, why not just expand the program to include prescription 
drugs. It is a program that works. This is not an ideological problem. 
We are not trying to figure out who is on the right or left, who is a 
Democrat or Republican. We want to do something that is practical, that 
is meaningful for the average American, particularly for the average 
American senior.
  The Democrats are going to be up here every day and every night 
asking the Republicans to bring up a prescription drug benefit, to have 
a debate and do something about this between now and the end of this 
session. The number of days that we are going to be here gets shorter 
and shorter. If this is not brought up soon, certainly after the 
Memorial Day recess, it is very unlikely that we will see action on it 
before the end of the session. Bring up a prescription drug benefit, 
put it under Medicare, make sure that it applies to all seniors and we 
have a cost mechanism to reduce cost. Anything less than that is not 
fair to America's seniors.

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