[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 53 (Thursday, April 22, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E636-E637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE PRESERVING ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE DRUGS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 22, 2004

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to be joining Senator 
Corzine and my Democratic Colleagues from New Jersey in introducing the 
Preserving Access to Affordable Drugs Act to preserve the drug benefits 
that millions of seniors in our country currently enjoy. Unfortunately, 
the misguided Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and 
Modernization Act of 2003, which was recently signed into law, 
threatens to reduce or eliminate the prescription drug benefits that 
millions of seniors across the country already have. Based on these and 
other detrimental provisions in the new law, which seniors continue to 
oppose vehemently, we should simply repeal the entire bill outright. 
But in the meantime, the bill I'm introducing today highlights the most 
egregious loss of benefits that seniors will suffer under the new law, 
and provides mechanisms to ``hold harmless'' those seniors who already 
have good drug coverage.
  The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that as many as 1.7 
million retirees could lose their employer-based prescription drug 
benefits as a result of the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. 
Also as a result of the new law, hundreds of thousands of seniors 
currently enrolled in state pharmacy assistance programs (SPAPs) will 
be forced out of those programs and into a private Medicare drug plan. 
Approximately 6 million seniors who are dually eligible for Medicare 
and Medicaid will lose access to their Medicaid prescription drug 
benefits, which is more generous and has greater access to a variety of 
drugs. And, despite the fact that the new Medicare law has huge gaps in 
coverage, seniors who choose to enroll in the new drug benefit will be 
prohibited from purchasing Medigap coverage to pay for prescription 
drugs not covered by the new Medicare benefit.
  In my home state of New Jersey, alone, 94,000 retirees will lose 
their employer-based prescription drug benefits. More than 150,000 low-
income seniors in New Jersey who are dually eligible for, and enrolled 
in, both Medicare and Medicaid will lose access to the Medicaid drug 
benefits they currently rely on. And 220,000 New Jersey seniors who are 
currently enrolled in Pharmaceutical Assistance for the Aged and 
Disabled (PAAD) and Senior Gold, the state's pharmacy assistance 
programs for the aged and disabled, will face disruption in coverage 
and will likely receive less drug coverage than they currently receive.
  It is my view--and based on what I have heard in town hall meetings 
in my district, the view of an overwhelming majority of seniors in this 
country--that no senior should be made worse off by the new Medicare 
law.
  The legislation I'm introducing today will:
  Preserve employer-based retiree prescription drug coverage by 
allowing employer expenditures on drug costs to count toward the out-
of-pocket threshold of $3,600. By not counting toward the catastrophic 
cap any costs covered by employer-provided retiree benefits, those 
employers that maintain their retiree health benefits would see their 
retirees

[[Page E637]]

receive less of a Medicare subsidy than a beneficiary without employer-
provided benefits. Without this fix, approximately 94,000 New Jersey 
seniors and 1.7 million retirees nationwide will likely lose their 
employer-based drug coverage.
  Enable states, if they choose, to administer the Medicare 
prescription drug benefit through their existing state pharmacy 
assistance program. This means that my home state of New Jersey could 
continue to provide prescription drug benefits to seniors through the 
very successful and popular existing PAAD and Senior Gold programs. As 
a result, these seniors will not have to enroll in the less-generous 
Medicare drug program, will be able to remain in PAAD and Senior Gold, 
and will experience no disruption in coverage.
  Ensure that states can provide supplemental Medicaid prescription 
drug coverage to complement the Medicare drug benefit to seniors who 
are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. Currently in New Jersey, 
152,000 low-income seniors and disabled individuals who are Medicare 
eligible receive 100% of their drug coverage through the state Medicaid 
program. The Medicare bill replaces Medicaid coverage with more limited 
drug coverage and prohibits states from wrapping around the Medicare 
benefit with Medicaid coverage. This bill will enable states to 
completely wrap around through the Medicaid program.
  Restore Medicare beneficiaries' ability to purchase supplemental drug 
coverage through the Medigap program. Under the new law, those who 
participate in the new Part D drug benefit are prohibited from 
purchasing supplemental drug coverage through the Medigap program.
  Eliminate the premium support (Medicare privatization) demonstration 
program. This is particularly important for Gloucester, Camden, 
Burlington and Salem counties in southern New Jersey, which currently 
meet the qualifications to be selected to participate in this program.
  Simply stated, a Medicare prescription drug benefit that chips away 
at the generous drug coverage that some seniors already enjoy is hardly 
a benefit at all. The new Medicare law is bad for seniors and should be 
repealed; but in the meantime, at the very least, we must do no harm. 
That's exactly what this bill intends to do.

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