[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 16, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H8262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       PROTECT EMPLOYER-SPONSORED COVERAGE IN MEDICARE CONFERENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kline). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to highlight a crucial 
issue that is beginning to take center stage in the Medicare debate, 
and that is the fate of employer-sponsored health coverage for 
retirees.
  As it currently stands, the House-passed Republican Medicare bill 
encourages employers who are currently providing retiree health 
benefits to drop that coverage. Unfortunately, the Republican bill 
states that any dollar an employer pays for an employee's prescription 
drug costs would now count towards the employee's out-of-pocket 
catastrophic cap. This disadvantages seniors with employer-sponsored 
coverage because it would be almost impossible for them to ever reach 
the bill's catastrophic cap over which Medicare would pay 100 percent 
of their drug costs. Without a doubt, many employers will simply stop 
offering retiree coverage.
  The potential loss of this valuable benefit that many unions and 
employers provide today was reported today in the New York Times. 
According to the front page lead story by Robert Pear, ``About 12 
million of the 40 million Medicare recipients has retiree health 
benefits, usually including some drug benefits. But the Congressional 
Budget Office estimates that one-third of the people with such drug 
coverage could lose it under bills passed in June by the House.''
  Mr. Speaker, Republican conferees so far are unwilling to provide a 
final Medicare agreement that will provide seniors with an affordable, 
available and guaranteed prescription drug benefit that does not 
privatize Medicare. With the added threat of employers dropping retiree 
health benefits if a retiree is eligible for Medicare, we will no doubt 
have a public health crisis on our hands.
  Mr. Speaker, Republicans are promising tax credits and subsidies to 
employers in order to persuade them not to reduce or deny benefits to 
seniors. But these approaches do not work and the answer is very 
simple. Employer dollars being provided for retiree coverage should 
contribute towards the out-of-pocket cap on the Medicare benefit. This 
system would allow seniors to reach the catastrophic amount earlier in 
the year, the amount at which point Medicare would pay 100 percent of 
drug costs, thereby providing relief to employers and providing an 
incentive for them to continue providing retiree coverage. It is 
simple.
  I just hope, Mr. Speaker, tomorrow when President Bush plans to meet 
with the Medicare conferees, I would encourage him to ask the conferees 
to ensure that this important issue is addressed, because if all we do 
in passing a Medicare drug benefit is manage to basically eliminate 
employer-retiree coverage for drug benefits in health care, then 
certainly there is no point in having the Medicare agreement or the 
Medicare drug coverage at all.
  I would hope that this could be addressed. Otherwise, I would say 
that the Democrats will continue to raise this as an issue while the 
conferees meet because it is so important. And so many of my 
constituents, Mr. Speaker, have already talked to me about it and are 
very concerned about the possible loss of their coverage.




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