[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 16, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H1096]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT FOR WOMEN

  (Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak 
as the vice chair of the Women's Caucus in this House. Women outlive 
men by 5.4 years. Unfortunately, women are also spending 18 percent 
more on our health care. Couple those statistics with the fact that the 
average woman in Medicare earns half the income of a man and we are 
facing a very serious problem; that is, affording pharmaceutical drug 
coverage.
  My colleagues and I responded to the problem and created a new 
voluntary prescription drug benefit in the Medicare bill which we 
passed last year. The millions of female seniors left widowed, or 
without a husband's employer insurance coverage, will now have a 
benefit that will save them almost 60 percent off prescription drugs, 
if they choose to enroll.
  Mr. Speaker, 167,000 elderly women live in the great State of Florida 
below the poverty level. That is more than two times the number of men 
in poverty. I am proud to say that my colleagues on the Women's Caucus 
and I finally did something to assist low-income, elderly women who do 
not have insurance coverage.

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