[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 42 (Tuesday, April 12, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E629]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               PRESERVING ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE DRUGS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT MENENDEZ

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 12, 2005

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, today I am proud to be introducing a 
revised version of the Preserving Access to Affordable Drugs (PAAD) 
Act. Unfortunately, the misguided Medicare Prescription Drug, 
Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 threatens to reduce or 
eliminate the prescription drug benefits that millions of seniors 
across the country already have. And if the law isn't bad enough as is, 
the Administration has ignored the recommendations of the President's 
State Pharmaceutical Assistance Transition Commission and denied New 
Jersey's request to automatically enroll those Medicare beneficiaries 
currently enrolled in New Jersey's PAAD and Medicaid programs into a 
preferred Medicare prescription drug plan.
  This ruling effectively blocks New Jersey's efforts to preserve the 
generous prescription drug coverage the state currently provides to the 
190,000 seniors enrolled in New Jersey's PAAD program and the 140,000 
seniors and disabled enrolled in the state's Medicaid program when the 
new Medicare prescription drug benefit goes into effect on January 1, 
2006.
  In an effort to right this wrong, the bill I'm introducing today will 
ensure that our seniors have a seamless transition to the new Medicare 
Part D drug benefit, without a reduction or disruption in their 
coverage.
  The PAAD Act will allow states to automatically enroll PAAD and 
dually eligible Medicaid beneficiaries in one or more preferred 
prescription drug plans to ensure that these beneficiaries are enrolled 
in a Medicare drug plan that maximizes both their federal and state 
prescription drug coverage. This will ensure that New Jersey seniors 
who currently receive prescription drug benefits under PAAD or through 
the state's Medicaid program are not made worse off by the new Medicare 
law.
  In addition, the PAAD Act will allow New Jersey to provide 
supplemental Medicaid prescription drug benefits to low-income seniors 
and disabled who currently receive generous prescription drug benefits 
under the Medicaid program and who will now receive their prescription 
drug benefits through Medicare.
  With approximately six million seniors nationwide, including 140,000 
in New Jersey, who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, it is 
absolutely critical that they do not lose access to their Medicaid 
prescription drug benefits, which are more generous than the new 
Medicare benefit will be. Not to mention, hundreds of thousands of 
seniors across the country, and 200,000 seniors in New Jersey, 
currently are enrolled in state pharmacy assistance programs, and will 
be forced into a private Medicare drug plan. We need to make sure the 
new Medicare Modernization Act transition happens with the least amount 
of confusion and loss of coverage possible. With this bill, we will 
solve these outstanding problems.

                          ____________________