[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 4, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2493-H2494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PRESCRIPTION DRUG DISCOUNT CARDS

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, this week seniors nationwide will begin to 
see how ineffective and confusing the Republican prescription drug 
legislation is. This week, seniors have the opportunity to sign up for 
a new prescription drug card that will provide supposed savings on 
prescription drug costs.
  The program begins on June 1; and while the new Medicare law will not 
take effect until 2006, it is clear that these drug cards are being 
used as a ploy to enroll beneficiaries into products sponsored by the 
private drug and insurance industry.
  Mr. Speaker, while some seniors will be able to save on their 
medications when they use these cards, many will not. In fact, I 
believe these drugs cards are nothing more than window dressing, a weak 
attempt by the Bush administration to couch the true intent of this 
Medicare law.
  As seniors will see in the upcoming weeks, there is no guaranteed 
discount from drug card sponsors. Medicare discount cards are being 
marketed as providing a 10 to 25 percent discount, but there is no 
requirement in the new law that card sponsors must offer any specific 
discount. The idea of any savings is merely an illusion. Prescription 
costs rose 17 percent alone last year and drug prices are reported to 
have increased dramatically between the beginning of the year and now, 
so any savings have been lost to drug cost inflation.
  Mr. Speaker, I would point out secondly, there is no guarantee that a 
particular drug card will offer discounts on all of the medicines taken 
by seniors. Card sponsors are allowed to pick and choose which drugs 
will be discounted. In addition, card sponsors may change the 
discounted prices on medicines weekly.
  The discounts on a seniors' medicine when advertised when he or she 
enrolled may change, but that senior will not be allowed to switch to a 
different card for one whole year. So imagine that, Mr. Speaker, a card 
sponsor can change prices any time they want, but seniors have to stick 
with the same drug card for an entire year.
  There is also no guarantee access to any particular pharmacy. Each 
discount card sponsor will determine which pharmacies will offer the 
discount advertised with the card. A seniors' usual pharmacy may not 
participate in the card that he or she selects.
  Finally, the final price paid for prescriptions will vary by 
pharmacy. Because pharmacies can change the prices they charge, seniors 
must check with each of their local participating pharmacies to find 
out which one offers the lowest price on the drugs covered under their 
card.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask, how are seniors supposed to decipher all of 
this information that I mentioned. You would hope they would be able to 
get it from the Department of Health and Human Services; but that 
agency is too busy these days producing commercials trying to sell the 
new prescription drug law, rather than providing reliable information 
that seniors can use. Consider that drug cards sponsors are now saying 
that information on the Health and Human Services Web site designed to 
help seniors shop for the right card contains false information.
  Mr. Speaker, if Health and Human Services cannot get the information 
right, how can we expect seniors to decide which plans works best for 
them?
  Mr. Speaker, seniors should carefully consider their options. 
Unfortunately, they must remember that the Bush administration and 
Congressional Republicans were more concerned about how this 
legislation would affect the pharmaceutical companies than they were 
about how it would affect America's seniors. Seniors should remember 
that Democrats continue our fight to lower prescription drug costs by 
giving the government the purchasing power of millions of seniors to 
negotiate drug costs and to allow safe reimportation of drugs from 
Canada and elsewhere.
  Mr. Speaker, I have said many times that this Medicare prescription 
drug law should simply be repealed and we should go back to the drawing 
board. This idea of having these discount cards is too confusing and it 
will not result in lower drug prices for seniors. Imagine that they 
have to wait another 2 years after that before the

[[Page H2494]]

Medicare law with the prescription drug benefit supposedly even comes 
into effect.
  We should repeal the law, go back to the drawing board and come up 
with a prescription drug benefit that really helps senior citizens 
under Medicare, not this false and illusory drug card, the process 
which begins this week.

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