[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 99 (Tuesday, July 8, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2003

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. BOB ETHERIDGE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 26, 2003

  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to oppose H.R. 1, the 
Republican Medicare bill.
  Tonight we have an opportunity to provide seniors with a Medicare 
prescription medicine benefit. But the Republican Majority has thrown 
aside bipartisanship and crafted a bill that will confuse and short-
change seniors while slowly eroding the time-honored guarantee of 
Medicare. I cannot vote for this seriously flawed bill.
  Seniors in North Carolina's Second District, like those across the 
country, deserve a real Medicare prescription medicine benefit. They 
want a plan that is simple, comprehensive, and a part of Medicare. I 
have consistently voted for such a plan throughout my career in 
Congress.
  But H.R. 1 subjects seniors to a complex plan that features 
fluctuating premiums, a huge gap in coverage, uncertainty about who's 
going to provide them with medicines, and it will end Medicare as we 
know it.
  First, nothing in this legislation requires the drug-only insurance 
groups that will administer this plan to fix premiums at $35 a month. 
That number is merely a suggestion. Our seniors do not want suggestions 
Mr. Speaker, they want certainty.
  Second, the $400 billion the Majority set aside for Medicare related 
spending in their Fiscal Year 2004 is woefully inadequate. This plan 
will only cover a fifth of what seniors will spend over the next 10 
years on prescription medicines. To fit inside their budget, the 
authors of this bill have developed a huge gap, or doughnut hole, that 
forces seniors who spend between $2,001 and $3,500 on medicines to pay 
all of their costs. This is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker.
  Third, this plan relies on an untested mechanism to deliver medicines 
to seniors. H.R. 1 creates a drug-only insurance market that will not 
work, especially in rural areas. But what makes this bill worse is that 
it makes no effort to provide a fallback for rural seniors should 
private drug-only plans decide to stop offering them coverage.
  Finally, in this plan we see the Republican Majority's true colors. 
H.R. 1 is simply a shell-game that will privatize Medicare. Under this 
legislation, in 2010 private plans will be allowed to compete against 
Medicare to cover hospital and physician benefits. As private plans 
seek to siphon off healthy seniors, the cost of remaining in 
traditional Medicare will rise and seniors will be forced to join an 
HMO, along with all of its restrictions, to get coverage.

  When President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law over 38 years 
ago, Medicare was designed to be a guarantee that our seniors would be 
able to get affordable health care services regardless of their age, 
ability to pay, or degree of sickness. In the spirit of that landmark 
law, I will vote for an alternative amendment to H.R. 1 that creates a 
simple, comprehensive, prescription medicine plan under Medicare. This 
plan also includes superior rural provider provisions in comparison to 
those contained in H.R. 1.
  Mr. Speaker, for the third Congress in a row we have another Medicare 
bill pending before us. And once again, the bill is a sham. It provides 
no guaranteed benefit, contains a huge gap in coverage, and it will 
privatize Medicare.
  America's seniors want bipartisan cooperation in this body. They want 
us to come together to strengthen Medicare, not dismantle it. I urge my 
colleagues to oppose H.R. 1 tonight.

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