[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 5, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4859-S4860]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MEDICARE DISCOUNT CARD
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am going to address issues about the
Medicare discount card, and I particularly want to respond to criticism
that we heard yesterday from the other side.
Listening yesterday, as I did, and then listening today to the
criticism about the high price of gasoline, I have come to the
conclusion that over the last several days members of the other party
have a guilt complex about some of the votes they have cast in recent
months. For instance, only 13 out of 49 Democrats voted to break the
filibuster on the national energy policy. If we had a national energy
policy, they would not have any worry about high gasoline prices.
Then, of course, all but about 12 of them voted against the drug
discount card to give seniors reasonably priced prescription drugs. So
they come in and trash the bill we passed in a bipartisan way. I hope
they realize they made big mistakes on some of their votes last year
and suck it up and move on.
In regard to what was said yesterday about Medicare, first, yesterday
was a very historic day for Medicare beneficiaries in my home State of
Iowa and all the other 49 States. Before then, many beneficiaries paid
some of the highest prices for drugs. Now they can begin shopping for a
Medicare-approved discount card that will help them pay less, a lot
less.
With discounts taking effect June 1, this program will provide
Medicare beneficiaries with immediate savings on their medicines until
the comprehensive Medicare drug benefit begins in 2006. According to
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, beneficiaries will save
$4 billion to $5 billion over the next year and a half on drugs. That
is not chickenfeed. That is saving a lot of money for our seniors.
Older Americans and individuals with disabilities can choose a card
that gets them the lowest prices on drugs they need.
Finding the best card could not be simpler. Contrary to what one of
the Senators told us yesterday about how complicated this process is,
they are hoping the seniors, whom they consider their political
property, will believe them that it is complicated and they will not
bother to look at it because it is too complicated. Do the seniors of
America need to have Democrats scare them more?
This is how simple it is: Call 1-800-MEDICARE any time, 24 hours a
day. They can call their State Health Insurance Information Program,
SHIP as it is called, and get counselors at the local level. Most of
them are very well-trained volunteers to help seniors decide. They can
go online themselves if they want to, or with a family member, to
compare prices offered by different cards.
They can find low or no-cost cards that include their neighborhood
pharmacies, all by making one telephone call any time in a 24-hour day
to a 1-800-MEDICARE number.
Using their Medicare-approved drug discount card, beneficiaries will
save at least 10 to 25 percent on the cost of their drugs.
Like the drug benefit itself, the Medicare-approved drug discount
card targets assistance to those most in need. Beneficiaries with low
incomes, that is less than $12,600 for an individual and $16,900 for a
married couple, will qualify for a $600 credit this year, another new
$600 credit next year. If there are two in the family, that is $1,200
this year and $1,200 next year. If they do not carry it all this year,
it can carry over to next year. If they do not use it all up before the
new insurance program for prescription drugs is put in place, they can
carry it over into 2006 until it is used up.
Some people have said these cards will not offer good discounts. That
is what we heard yesterday. So I did some checking. To give an example,
let us take a woman enrolled in Medicare in the largest city close to
my farm, in Iowa, with an income of $12,000 a year. Let us call her
Helen, to be short. Helen needs to fill prescriptions for Celebrex,
Norvasc, and Zocor. With no discounts, she would pay $7,297 at her
local pharmacies for these drugs from June of this year until the end
of 2005. Helen goes to this pharmacy because she knows and trusts this
pharmacy. She does not want to order her drugs through the mail.
With a basic discount card offered by this legislation, she would
save $1,213--that is 17 percent--off of her drugs. Now the $1,200 by
itself is a pretty big savings, but that is like giving her the
drugstore.com price at her local pharmacy.
[[Page S4860]]
Helen has a fixed income of $1,000 a month. This means she also
qualifies for the transitional assistance and does not have to pay an
enrollment fee. By applying for the card and qualifying for the $600
credit, she also learns she is eligible for other assistance programs,
such as those offered by drug manufacturers. With the $600 on her card
in both 2004 and 2005, combined with these additional discounts, she
will save $6,894.
I will repeat that because that is very significant. She will be
saving almost $6,900 off of her drug bill. That is a 95-percent savings
for her.
I ask the people who were criticizing this program yesterday if they
consider that chickenfeed. For someone living on a fixed income, what a
relief that is going to be. About a third of her income will be freed
up for other priorities.
Since enrollment began Monday, May 3, we have heard some Members come
to this Chamber to criticize the drug discount card. That is a shame.
The discount card program will mean real savings for beneficiaries,
especially with low incomes. Seniors have been waiting a long time to
get relief from high prescription drug costs. This legislation delivers
that relief.
I know this is an election year, but this is not the time or the
issue to play politics at their expense and to scare the seniors of
America. More than 300 organizations--I wish these people on the other
side of the aisle would put this in their pipe and smoke it--endorse
this legislation. They will say this drug discount card is a first step
toward making drugs more affordable for all Medicare beneficiaries.
The president of the National Council on Aging described the new
Medicare law as the single most important opportunity to help low-
income Medicare beneficiaries to have emerged in the past 35 years.
This is what the president, Robert Hayes, said:
(Low-income) people should run--not walk to sign up.
This is especially true for the estimated 4.3 million low-income
beneficiaries who will see immediate relief with a combined $1,200 this
year and the next which they can use to buy their lifesaving
prescription drugs.
What I find alarming is that some would try to score political points
rather than help low-income beneficiaries get some much needed help
with their drugs. So my colleagues voted against this bill last year.
Suck it up and move on.
I was personally involved in the negotiations last year. I can tell
my colleagues that during the Medicare conference, both Republicans and
Democrats--that is bipartisan--strongly supported the creation of a
drug discount card.
While some would like people to believe otherwise, this Medicare-
approved drug discount card is a good deal. Since January of this year,
I have held 39 town meetings throughout Iowa to tell my constituents
about this drug discount card program and what it does. As Members of
Congress, we should use this opportunity to educate beneficiaries and
to tell them about the $600 credit. I am concerned about a political
environment that confuses and misleads Medicare beneficiaries and that
in the end causes more harm than good. They deserve better than that.
I want to address a couple of criticisms that people have been
making. First, some have said that prices are going to change every
week. Drug card sponsors can only increase the price if there is a
change in the sponsor's cost. Card sponsors can lower prices at any
time, which will have a positive impact.
I have been assured that CMS will aggressively monitor the prices
charged by card sponsors to make sure that they treat beneficiaries
fairly.
CMS will track any changes made in drug prices and complaints
received by 1-800-MEDICARE and other sources. They also will ``mystery
shop'' to make sure that sponsors are not falsely advertising.
If CMS finds that a card sponsor is taking advantage of seniors, they
can freeze enrollment, impose fines or kick the sponsor out of the
program entirely.
Lastly, some have been saying that prices on the Medicare Web site
are inaccurate. CMS has assured me that the prices are the right ones.
Prices on the Web site are the best prices that the cards can
guarantee. So they cannot be higher, but they could be lower.
I said this last week and I will say it again: We should move on and
not lose sight of what really matters. And that is helping
beneficiaries like Helen from Waterloo and the millions like her get
drugs at lower prices. The bottom line is that the discount card
program is a really good deal for our Nation's Medicare beneficiaries.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. How much time do we have remaining?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Seven minutes 40 seconds.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I would like to be notified when I
have used 2 minutes and 40 seconds, after which I am going to yield the
final 5 minutes to the Senator from Minnesota.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has that right.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. I thank the Senator from Iowa for talking about the
Medicare discount drug card. I think it is so important that seniors
know they can easily compare prices; they can determine which is the
best card for them. This is going to help anyone who does not have
other coverage.
I hope our seniors know they can call 1-800-MEDICARE and get further
information. If they call their local Medicare office, the Medicare
people are going to be very accommodating. I am appreciative that the
Senator from Iowa clarified that because all the rhetoric we are
hearing could scare our seniors.
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