[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 119 (Wednesday, September 3, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H7812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG CONFERENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, as we return from the August recess, we 
face the great challenge of passing a Medicare bill that will provide a 
good prescription drug benefit for seniors. Republicans in the House 
passed a bill in July, or June, earlier this year that caters to drug 
companies, HMOs, and that destroys Medicare. This is obvious for many 
reasons evident in the detail of the bill. However, I want to highlight 
two ways in which Republicans are killing the Medicare program and in 
the process contributing to the endless suffering and hardship of 
seniors nationwide.
  Madam Speaker, the Republican bill turns Medicare into a voucher 
program. This means that traditional Medicare will essentially be 
phased out by the year 2010. Seniors will find it difficult to stay in 
traditional Medicare because it will cost them more. They will only be 
able to afford the private insurance that is available with the voucher 
given to them by the Federal Government. By making Medicare a voucher 
program, seniors would be forced into private plans, the same companies 
that have said in the past that they do not want to cover seniors and 
have pitiful records of providing them care. Medicare HMOs have not 
been effective in providing health coverage to the more than 2 million 
seniors who have seen their coverage disappear over the past 5 years. 
In my State alone, in New Jersey, Medicare HMOs dropped almost 80,000 
seniors from coverage after concluding that Medicare beneficiaries were 
not profitable.
  Madam Speaker, when Republicans are pushing seniors into private 
insurance plans that offer no stability or security, they are at the 
same time taking away the seniors' rights to choose and enroll in a 
dependable drug plan under the Medicare program. Under the Republican 
bill, a prescription drug benefit is essentially available only if they 
join an HMO, and Democrats, to the contrary, believe that a 
prescription-sponsored drug plan should be available to all seniors 
including those enrolled in traditional Medicare.
  Madam Speaker, the Medicare bill should offer a benefit to all 
seniors all across the country regardless of how many private drug-only 
insurance plans or Medicare HMOs are available in any particular area. 
All seniors should pay the same premium, the same deductible, the same 
coinsurance, and would have the same benefit.
  Democrats plan to offer a series of motions to instruct conferees 
that would ensure that the Medicare bill does not privatize Medicare 
and that it offers a guaranteed fallback prescription drug plan for all 
those in traditional Medicare.
  Madam Speaker, there are many provisions in the Republican bill that 
passed the House that are highly problematic. For example, the bill 
does nothing to reduce the cost of prescription drugs and forbids the 
Secretary from negotiating reduced costs of prescription. The 
Republican bill provides an inadequate benefit that should be called 
``pay more, get less.'' And, lastly, the Republican bill encourages 
erosion of employer-sponsored coverage.
  Overwhelmingly, Madam Speaker, America's seniors want and deserve a 
guaranteed comprehensive and affordable prescription drug benefit that 
is part of basic Medicare. A meaningful Medicare drug benefit must be 
voluntary. It must be guaranteed for all. It must be funded adequately 
to attract widespread participation, and it must contain an effective 
mechanism to lower the costs of drugs. It must hold together the 
bargaining power of 40 million seniors, and it must contain a framework 
that could be expanded in future years. The House Republican plan does 
nothing to meet these tests, and it is now more important than ever to 
encourage our conferees of the House and the Senate to include measures 
that guarantee a Medicare fallback and that guarantee that Medicare 
will not be privatized.

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