[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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