[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 24 (Wednesday, March 1, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, today marks the 2-month anniversary of the 
Medicare prescription drug benefit, and it would not be too much of an 
exaggeration to say that, so far, the Part D, D stands for disaster.
  The benefit is so complicated and convoluted that even beneficiaries 
with Ph.D.s have said they could not figure it out.
  Why is this program so flawed? Because it was designed, or we like to 
say in the private sector, the first operation is take care of the 
customer first. I have yet to find a single pharmaceutical executive or 
an HMO executive who is complaining about this program, but I have 
found a heck of a lot of senior citizens who are complaining about this 
program. This program was never designed with our senior citizens in 
mind. If it was, you would not have the complexities that are happening 
for our senior citizens.
  The executives of the drug companies will earn $139 billion of 
additional profits that they would not have earned any other way; 
insurance companies, $130 billion of additional profits over the next 
10 years.
  The complexity of the benefit shows, in my view, what was wrong and 
what we should have done right. Three simple steps:
  One, with the May 15 penalty that will kick in, the tax, the senior 
Medicare tax, postpone that until HHS and CMS figure out what they 
should be doing, rather than what they should not be doing. No senior 
should be forced into a program where even the people running it do not 
know what they are doing.
  Second, directly negotiate for prices. That is what the Veterans' 
Administration does. That is what Sam's Club does. That is what Target 
does. That is what Costco does. Anybody in the private sector, 
literally, bulk purchases get a better price than anybody buying 
individually.
  And third, allow people competitive choices by reimportation, 
allowing them to buy drugs in Canada, England, France, where they can 
get competitive pricing which is 50 percent cheaper.
  I have a Costco in Chicago. There is also a Costco in Toronto. We 
have up on our Web site the two Costcos, one in Toronto, one in 
Chicago. Same 10 drugs, same milligram, same dosage; and the Costco in 
Toronto is constantly $1,000 cheaper for the same drugs over the same 
period of time than the one in Chicago. And yet both of them are stores 
that are supposed to be discount.
  And lastly, allow generics to market quicker. If you had direct 
negotiations, reimportation, generics to market quicker, three free 
market principles where competition and choice rule, we would actually 
have cheaper pharmaceutical prices, things that seniors can afford, and 
save money for taxpayers as well.
  And yet what we do not have are those programs. And we are forcing in 
the middle of May, May 15, senior citizens will literally pay a 
Medicare privatization tax.
  On April 15, all Americans will pay a tax. On May 15, because of the 
complexity of this program, seniors will begin to pay a tax for the 
complexities.
  Seniors that do not want to join this program, that are confused 
because of the way that they have been forced into plans, had plans 
drop their drugs, not offer all the drugs they need at a better price 
than they can get otherwise, will literally start to be taxed by the 
Federal Government.
  Tens of thousands of beneficiaries, today in the New York Times an 
article highlighted that the beneficiaries are automatically assigned 
to plans and deciding to switch plans are finding that they are 
actively enrolled in two drug plans at the same time.
  When you read a report on what is going on, you would think you were 
reading an after-action report on Katrina. What has happened over at 
HHS and Health and Human Services on Medicare is literally one more 
example of the disaster the Federal Government has had in running this 
plan. The situation leaves patients at risk, being charged two premiums 
or incorrect copayments.
  In my hometown of Chicago, seniors have 62 separate drug plans to 
pick from. And I hear constantly from my constituents every day that 
the choices are causing confusion and problems. Pharmacists are not 
sure what is happening. The people administering the plans are not sure 
what is happening, and it is leaving seniors absolutely in total 
confusion.
  Seniors need clearly more time to figure this out. They should not be 
penalized with a complexity tax, a privatization tax for taking the 
time to get the facts. Facts, I remind you, that even HHS and Medicare 
are not sure of what the facts are as it relates to what is the best 
plan.
  Just to give you an idea of the tax we are talking about, if a senior 
decided to wait for 2 years before enrolling, there will be a 24 
percent higher premium to pay. That is an additional $7.73 per month on 
top of the monthly premium. If a senior waits longer, it can go as high 
as $456 a year. For seniors on a fixed income, this is a tremendous 
financial burden.
  Even before the drug benefit went into effect on January 1, there 
were problems. And the Republican colleagues who wrote the plan know 
what the problems are.
  In fact, the drug manufacturers, again, I would like to repeat and I 
will be done: $139 billion in profits over the next 8 years and 
insurers, $130 million.

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