[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 43 (Thursday, April 6, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1664-H1670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fortenberry). Under the Speaker's
announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr.
Gingrey) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority
leader.
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I am very happy, of course, to be here
tonight to take this leadership hour and talk about something that is
really near and dear to my heart but, more importantly, near and dear
to the hearts of 41, 42 million seniors in this country who finally,
because of the leadership of this Congress, the Republican leadership
and this President, have delivered on a promise that was made years
ago. And that delivery, I know a lot about them because as an OB/GYN
physician before coming to Congress, I delivered 5,200 babies, but this
may be the best delivery that I have ever been a part of, Mr. Speaker,
and that is delivering, as I say, on a promise made by former
Congresses and other Presidents over the 45-year history of the
Medicare program, which was introduced in 1965 with no prescription
drug benefit. And what we have done here is add part D, the ``D'' for
``drugs'' or, if you want, the ``delivery'' that we have finally
provided to our American seniors.
This prescription drug benefit is a wonderful thing, and, of course,
we are going to talk about that tonight. I have a number of my
colleagues that have joined me, and we will be getting information from
them, from their districts. We will be engaging in colloquy as we go
through the hour, Mr. Speaker, talking about the success stories
because we do not want to stand up here for an hour and expect people
to take our word for this. I think it is very important, Mr. Speaker,
that we hear from our seniors, whether they are from the 11th District
of Georgia that I represent or whether they are from the gentlewoman's
Virginia District, Representative Thelma Drake, who is here with us,
and others.
But when we passed this bill in November of 2003 and the President
signed it into law shortly thereafter in December, we had so much
criticism from the other side of the aisle, it was really amazing. Of
course, maybe I could understand the politics of it back then because
we had finally delivered on a promise that maybe they had made and not
delivered on. But we are into the sign-up period, and, in fact, May 15,
after that date there is a penalty for late signing up, and yet the
other side is still discouraging the 8 million that have not yet signed
up. And that is, Mr. Speaker, I think just so disappointing.
I have heard for the last 1\1/2\ years the criticism from the
Democrats about this program being nothing but a giveaway to the
pharmaceutical industry, that the program was designed by them, that
the government cannot negotiate price controls.
Well, I want to take a few minutes, Mr. Speaker, before yielding to
my good friend from Virginia. Listen to this: on March 9, 2000, the
Clinton
[[Page H1665]]
White House released the following ``united vision for a new Medicare
prescription drug benefit.'' Many parts of this vision closely mirror
the Republican-passed plan that the Democrats have been opposing and
criticizing for a 1\1/2\ years. And I take this text that I am going to
read directly from the Clinton White House Web site.
The White House, Office of the Press Secretary: ``President Clinton
and Senate Democrats unified in vision for new Medicare prescription
drug benefit for immediate release March the 9th, 2000. Senate
Democrats agree on principles for a new Medicare prescription drug
benefit. Today Senator Daschle and the Senate Democratic Caucus
released a set of prescription drug principles that will guide the
current congressional debate over the provision of a new Medicare
prescription drug benefit to millions of seniors. These principles
state that any new benefit should be: Number one, voluntary.'' Sound
familiar? ``Medicare beneficiaries who now have dependable, affordable
coverage should have the option of keeping that coverage.
``Accessible to all beneficiaries.'' Again, sound familiar? ``All
seniors and individuals with disabilities, including those in
traditional Medicare, should have access to a reliable benefit designed
to give beneficiaries meaningful protection and bargaining power. A
Medicare drug benefit should help seniors and the disabled with the
high cost of prescription drugs and protect against excessive out-of-
pocket costs.'' The catastrophic coverage in our plan. ``It should give
beneficiaries bargaining power that they lack today and include a
defined benefit, assuring access to medically necessary drugs.''
Exactly what this Republican Medicare modernization part D bill does.
``Affordable to all beneficiaries and the program, Medicare should
contribute enough towards a prescription drug premium to make it
affordable for all beneficiaries. While subsidies should be provided to
all to assure the benefit is affordable, low-income beneficiaries
should receive extra help with the cost of premium and cost sharing.''
Again, Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, does that sound familiar? That
is exactly what this bill does.
Let me continue because this is just so instructive. Again, this is
the Bill Clinton Presidency and Democratic Congress plan back in 2000.
``Administered using private sector entities and competitive
purchasing techniques. Discounts should be achieved through
competition, not regulation or price controls.''
They have been griping about this for 1\1/2\ years, and their plan
calls for private competition and no price controls.
{time} 2200
It should mirror practices employed by private insurers in delivering
prescription drugs. Private organizations should negotiate prices with
drug manufacturers and handle the day-to-day administrative
responsibilities of the benefit.'' That is exactly what this plan does
and what they have been railing about, again, for the past year-and-a-
half. So hypocritical, it is unbelievable.
So I just wanted to bring this press release, this Clinton press
release, and show you that the Democrats really wanted to do this, but
they couldn't deliver. They could not deliver on the goods, and they
can't stand it. They literally cannot stand the fact that this
President, who they despise, who they detest, and this Republican
leadership, who has been in control of this Congress for the last 12
years and is delivering, is getting things done, is not just simply
sitting back and throwing bricks and screaming and hollering. And as we
get closer and closer to the deadline, the rhetoric will continue to
increase.
Well, I just wanted to start the hour, Mr. Speaker, certainly not on
a negative tone, because we are very positive about this. I personally
as a physician Member am extremely excited that we are leaving
tomorrow, most of us will be leaving tomorrow, to go back to our
districts for a 2-week work period.
I am told by our Conference chairperson, the gentlelady from Ohio,
Deborah Pryce, that the Republicans, the 231 of us in this body, have
scheduled over 200 town hall meetings over this 10-day period while we
go back home and work for our seniors, not against our seniors.
I am excited about it, because I have four of those 200 scheduled in
my district, and I am really looking forward to it and looking forward
to help get those few, I think I said at the outset that some 27
million of 41 million eligible have now signed up, probably 5 or 6
million of those who have not already have a drug plan. We understand
that. They have a plan, whether it is TRICARE, if they happen to be a
veteran, or the widow or widower of a veteran, or they are signed up
under a company that they worked many years for and retired with not
only health insurance benefits, but a prescription drug coverage. They
don't need it. But there are still 6 or 8 million that do, and that is
why I am excited to get home and bring the good news to them.
At this point I want to yield to my colleagues. We have several with
us here on the floor tonight, Mr. Speaker. The gentleman from
Pennsylvania is the first to stand, and I want to recognize him.
I want to say a little bit about him before I turn the microphone
over to Dr. Murphy.
Dr. Tim Murphy is a classmate of mine. We came in the 108th Congress.
We have served together now for about 3\1/2\ years. He and I actually
cochair the Republican Health Care Public Relations Committee. We could
probably spend this hour talking about any number of issues regarding
health care that the Republicans have done.
But we are going to concentrate, as I said at the outset, and talk
about this Medicare modernization. We don't want to forget that part,
because that is almost as important as the prescription drug part.
At this time, I am very proud to yield to my friend from
Pennsylvania, Dr. Representative Tim Murphy.
Mr. MURPHY. I thank the distinguished doctor from Georgia for
yielding to me and for your important information for our colleagues
and really for our Nation to understand the importance of the Medicare
prescription drug plan.
Some of the things said will bear repeating several times over the
next few weeks, and one of the points I want to talk about, as you have
discussed as well, is misinformation that is sent out about this plan.
Any time something is new, there is going to be some glitches. All of
us, when our children were new, well, we knew as parents we didn't
exactly know everything we were doing and we had a foul-up or two, but
we persevered and our children turned out well. No matter what one does
in life, when it is something new in learning the ropes of it, it is
going to take a little adjustment.
But as we were signing up 27 million seniors at a rate sometimes
approaching 400,000 a week, the system wasn't always perfectly ready
for all of them, and there were some glitches, particularly for some
folks who were dual eligible.
But the point is HHS or Medicare responded, put extra people on
board, worked out some of the glitches, and I am pleased to say that
many of the seniors that I talked to are very pleased with this
program.
As a matter of fact, I was recently giving a town hall meeting, there
must have been 200 people in the audience there, and I asked how many
of them have yet to sign up for a Medicare plan? Not a single hand went
up. It seems that all of them had looked at the plan at that point, and
that Pennsylvania had chosen a number of things.
One gentleman decided to stick with the veterans plan. He liked that.
He had served in the military for many years now as a veteran. Another
woman was pleased that she could maintain the Pennsylvania PACE plan
for low income seniors that worked well for her. Another woman said she
was actually saving several hundred dollars so far, and it was only
March, with the Medicare prescription drug plan.
It is folks like this who really tell the truth about what is going
on. While politicians may be out there trying to scare seniors, it is
the seniors themselves that are perhaps the best salesmen saying it is
valuable.
It was only a short period ago that the stories that were always in
the newspapers were of seniors getting on board busses and going off to
Canada to pick up their prescription drugs, or perhaps using mail order
systems to
[[Page H1666]]
try to pick up prescription drugs. But I want to point out a couple of
things that is important that.
One, a study of the overall costs of traveling off to Canada, it
turns out that the overall cost savings was probably only around 1
percent when you looked at it. But AARP and others have said that
actually the savings that comes from the Medicare prescription drug
plan are at least equal to and sometimes better than traveling across
the Nation's lines to pick up drugs.
Also a very, very important savings factor here is not just a matter
of saving money, but saving lives. And in the process of seniors trying
to find drugs that are affordable to them, Mr. Speaker, what they are
also doing is getting on the Internet or going through mail order
houses and trying to pick up prescription drugs from foreign sources
and tragically finding that those sources contain counterfeit drugs.
One, a drug used to treat schizophrenia, it turned out to be nothing
more than white pills that said the word aspirin on them. Other
medications had water in them that was tainted. Other ones may have had
paint or foreign substances in them.
The point is, not only were they sometimes toxic in and of
themselves, but in not treating the illness, the things that went with
that is sometimes having seniors take medications that they could have
been allergic to or take medications that certainly, at the very least,
were not treating their illness.
By having an affordable prescription drug plan, what we have instead
is getting the right medicines to the right people so that they are
taking medications that are valuable to them and can help treat their
illnesses.
But let me point out some more things we have to understand, because
as people also look at the expense of a prescription drug plan, we have
to understand that, unfortunately, the way this system works in this
Federal Government, the Congressional Budget Office doesn't ever tell
us how much we save. But take a listen at a couple of these points.
First of all, ulcer surgery has become a relic of the past. New
drugs, Nexium, Prilosec, other things we have seen advertised, really
have ended up treating ulcers so well that surgical procedures to
correct ulcers has fallen, and today it is really a thing of the past.
Medicines also reduce hospitalizations and surgery for heart disease.
Drugs that reduce, for example, cholesterol levels and other things
that in the past had been an automatic admission to a hospital and
bypass surgery and angioplasty now we find are going down.
Medications to treat Alzheimer's diseases. Medications that have also
worked out there to improve the cognitive functioning over time and
keeping people out of long-term care and nursing care longer.
Also, listen to this, overall new medicines play a significant role
in the life expectancy gains made in the U.S. and around the world.
Recent research published in the Journal of Health Affairs concludes
that new medicines generated 40 percent of the 2-year gain in life
expectancy achieved in 52 countries between 1986 and 2000. In other
words, we are not only providing medications that are affordable, but
medications are now there that providing better and longer life for
many seniors.
The list goes on with so many more, cancer drugs, drugs to treat
AIDS, HIV, drugs that prevent stroke, that improve quality of life of
children. There is a wide range.
But the main thing is before the Medicaid prescription drug plan came
into effect, so many seniors, well, it was much like window shopping.
You could look in the shop and admire the merchandise, but you couldn't
go in to get it. Now that has changed. And that is a message that we
need to be telling across America as we are doing tonight and our
colleagues are going to do during this break.
It is of no value, as a matter of fact, it is a negative value and of
questionable ethical value I think sometimes if people only spend their
time criticizing the glitches that have been in the program, as with
any program that occurs, whether it is a public or private program,
criticizing it, standing on the outside and frightening seniors,
frightening seniors into thinking that because there was complexities
and difficulties, therefore they should not sign up.
I worry about this, Mr. Speaker. I worry because when I have held
town meetings and I have heard seniors say ``I heard this is difficult;
I don't think I can understand it so I have been holding off doing
it,'' my worry in those circumstances, when the people are just playing
politics with patients and frightening seniors away from this program,
what happens if a senior needed medication and they did not get it
because someone frightened them away?
The point is, if one dials 1-800-Medicare, they can talk to someone
who is helpful. If they go on to web sites, Medicare.gov, they can get
the information that they need. They can sit down with a family member
or friends. And many drugstores, many pharmacists throughout the Nation
will provide the kind of consultation free of charge to help seniors
walk through this. But they need their name, address, their Social
Security number, the names of the drugs they are on, the dosage levels
they take, the prices they pay.
And don't just compare what it is today when you have the deductibles
and copays. Look at what happens to the long-term costs throughout the
year and look at those prices and determine which of the many plans
available are the best ones for you. That is the message we should be
telling seniors.
You know, so often in America we criticize that costs go up when
people do not have a choice. Here with Medicare, people do have a
choice. They have a choice of looking through many, several plans. They
have a choice of doing nothing at all, quite frankly. But it is
something that is available to seniors. And the main thing about this
is having the availability of medications which can be lifesaving and
life extending and help the quality of life, make the difference
between someone who may be bound up in a nursing home and someone who
is still at their home, those are the kinds of stories that Americans
need to be talking about.
While there are those criticizing frightening seniors, let's remember
this. Instead of frightening seniors, we should be thinking this: 27
million seniors have signed up for this program so far, and many more
will sign up in the next few weeks. Those 27 million seniors can't all
be wrong. And instead of politicians mocking them and mocking the
program, maybe, just maybe, we would all do better to link our arms and
say let's do what we can to help every senior get the medications they
need. And even if they don't need them now, to sign up for a program,
just like you don't need homeowner's insurance today if your house
isn't on fire, you don't need automobile insurance today if you haven't
had an accident, but you have it there in case you do.
Sometimes with low costs in Pennsylvania, I know it can be as little
as $10 a month. Someone can at least have the piece of mind of knowing
it is there when they need it. These are the things we need, Mr.
Chairman. And to my colleague, Dr. Gingrey, I am so pleased that you
have done so much to help seniors throughout the Nation know this and
help our colleagues know this.
There is the deadline coming up next month for seniors to sign up,
and it is good news that so many seniors are looking towards that
deadline to sign up. Some have waited a little bit and want to see some
glitches out of the program. Many of those are being addressed now. I
certainly congratulate the Secretary of Health and Human Services for
all of the work he has been doing to get this message out.
But we are not done, and as colleagues we need to be working together
for the sake of our patients. Let's stop playing political games and
really do what is right and decent and honorable for America's seniors.
I yield back to the gentleman from Georgia, and I thank you so much
for sharing the time.
{time} 2215
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Murphy, thank you so much for that and for your
insights.
As I was standing here listening to Mr. Murphy, I cannot help but,
Mr. Speaker, wanting to go back just for a moment to this press release
of March 9, 2000, from the Bill Clinton White House. There were a
couple of things that I did not mention that I want to read to you
before we yield to Representative Drake.
[[Page H1667]]
In this press release it says, and this is one of the bullet points,
``Consistent with broader reform. The addition of a Medicare drug
benefit should be considered as part of an overall plan to strengthen
and modernize Medicare. Medicare will face the same demographic strain
as Social Security when the baby boom generation retires. Improving
benefits is only one step in preparing Medicare for this new century's
challenges.''
I will say one thing about the Democrats, they are pretty consistent
because they opposed any changes to Social Security as well. In fact,
this is exactly what they called for but, once again, as I said at the
outset, they could not deliver and it is killing them. But
unfortunately, their continuing rhetoric runs the risk of killing some
of our seniors, the six or so million of them, who need this benefit.
And it is just shameful. Shameless, as Garth Brooks sings the title of
one of my favorite songs. But they keep on. But hopefully maybe over
the next couple of weeks, maybe during this 2-week recess they will get
religion. It is certainly a time for religion. And they will understand
that it is time to stop playing footsie with our seniors and misleading
them and trying to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure at this time to introduce my colleague
for her remarks, the gentlewoman from the Second District of Virginia
(Mrs. Drake). She is a freshman but you would not know that. Her
experience and the things that she has done in a short period of time
in this body, on our side of the aisle, has just been amazing. She is a
member of the House Armed Service Committee. She is passionate about
veterans health care and health care for our military. So it is indeed
an honor to have Representative Drake with us tonight.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Virginia.
Mrs. DRAKE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman for that
very kind introduction and also for the opportunity to come and talk
about such a wonderful program. You used the term that it is the
modernization of Medicare, and often we only talk about the
prescription drug benefit and seldom do we hear that we now have
welcomed to Medicare checkups for our seniors as they are entering into
Medicare.
But I would like to take a moment first and thank all of the people
across America who have worked so hard to bring this program to our
seniors, to explain it, so that our seniors have the information and
can make the best choice for them. I know that the CMS employees have
worked very hard. Our Agencies on Aging, our Senior Services Agencies
have already been side-by-side with us in Virginia working, and many
Members of Congress have been holding meetings since last fall.
Now, of course I have seen a great number of increase in people once
we got into the first of the year after last fall. But I would also
like to thank our pharmacists. I have had town hall meetings where
pharmacists have come. I have had people in the Second District tell me
they go to the pharmacy at their drugstore, leave their information
they have filled out with their pharmacists, come back later and the
pharmacist has run the program for them.
Well, as you said, I am a freshman so I was not involved in the
debate or the vote in 2003, but by holding meetings throughout the
district I have learned an incredible amount about this program, and I
have heard what our seniors are concerned about and certainly I have
read the newspaper articles that say it is a confusing program. I would
disagree with that completely. But I didn't know that not only were our
seniors hearing from Medicare, they were hearing from me, and they were
hearing from all of the 18 companies in Virginia that offer 42
programs. And I think that was one of the concerns in 2003, was would
companies step up, would they offer this? And what we have seen
overwhelmingly is yes, companies have stood up. Companies have created
competition. They have reduced the price on the programs.
Our seniors have not only a voluntary program in this Medicare
program, if they choose to do exactly what they are doing and do not
want the program that is entirely up to them as long, in my mind, that
they know there are other options out there for them that are certainly
much less expensive. And I know that the underlying premise when this
was passed was that if we keep people well our overall health costs
would be less. And as Congressman Murphy just told us, it is much
cheaper to provide a prescription drug for heart disease than it is to
do heart surgery.
We have also heard the stories in 2003 about our seniors who either
were not eating, were not heating their homes or were not buying their
prescription drugs. I commend Congress for passing this legislation and
all the people that have worked to put it in place. 42 million Medicare
recipients and of that we know we are at 27, 28 million people right
now. Six million do not need to sign up because they have as good or
better coverage through a better plan. And our goal between now and May
15 is find those other 6 million people and make sure they know about
the program.
Some of the things I have learned in the district, first of all,
seniors did not understand that this is available to everyone. There is
no income qualification. If you are eligible for Medicare you are
eligible for this program.
I had one couple come just to ask me one question and they raised
their hands early in the program and the man said, I have a wonderful
health care coverage through my employer. I am retired. He said, but
when I die my wife cannot continue in the program. So what does she
need to do? And the answer was she is completely covered. When she
loses that coverage, then she can go into Medicare part D with no
penalty and she can go in within 60 days of losing that coverage. So
little things like that.
One man raised his hands and he said, I was talking to my insurance
agent, because it is important to remember that Medicare part D is not
a government program. It is private sector insurance policy with a
reduced premium because of the Federal Government. He said, my
insurance agent told me it was okay to buy a plan that didn't cover my
prescriptions. And I said, no, that is the wrong answer. You call that
agent today and say your Member of Congress says you may not buy his
plan until he gets your prescription drugs.
And what our seniors will find if they call, come to one of the
seminars, we have asked people in our district to feel free to call us.
We are happy to get them in the right place. But if you sit down at the
computer, and I have done it myself, and I just go to www.medicare.gov
and you scroll down very slowly and you do not go off into space
somewhere on the left-hand side of the screen, you just keep scrolling
down. Answer the questions. Put in the information and, most
importantly, what are the drugs that you take, and that will sort
through all the programs and give you the very best options.
I stopped and visited a friend on New Year's Eve. She had recently
lost her husband and I thought that would probably be a tough time of
the year for her. While I was there I asked the question I seemed to
ask all seniors today and that is, what are you doing about Medicare
part D? When I asked I was surprised that she had no prescription drug
coverage. And she said, I only take one prescription. It is $78 a month
and I am not going to do anything. And I said, well, there are choices
out there and maybe you should call or you should write and you should
get the information.
She said, I have already done that and she had the chart laid out of
three plans that covered her drug. As she talked to me and looked at
the plans, it became very apparent that there was one plan that would
cost her $25 a month, $35 for her prescription, and she was going to
save $28 a month just by signing up for that plan and that makes the
assumption she won't take any additional drugs over the course of this
year.
I think it is important, and you have talked about the May 15 date,
and our seniors I think are well aware that since this is a private
sector insurance policy and it has open enrollment, it has penalties.
If you do not sign up in time, just like a lot of other insurance
products, there will be a penalties after May 15. But the other thing
that is so important to remember is that if you do not sign up, May 15
enrollment is closed until November 15 and then you
[[Page H1668]]
can sign up for January 1. So our seniors could be facing 7 months of
not being able to get into the program simply because they didn't
realize that. They didn't understand what their real choices were.
So I applaud everyone who is working hard to tell them. Thank you for
holding this tonight. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk.
There are lots of success stories in the Second District. And I know
you have other Members that want to talk about it as well. So thank you
for giving me the opportunity. I certainly am grateful. I know our
seniors are once they are signed into the plan for what this plan
offers to them.
When I talk to people my age or their parents, because they will come
to our meetings, their first question is, How do I get it? My answer
is, You have to be 65. So thank you very much.
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman so much for being
with us tonight and I want to maybe expand just a little bit on her
comments in regard to the penalty, as she explained it very carefully
as to why that is necessary part of an insurance program.
By the way, Mr. Speaker, that is the exact same situation that exists
with Medicare part B. Medicare part B was there in 1965 but it was the
optional part. I think former President Truman was the first person to
actually voluntarily sign up for part B, the doctor part where it is
premium based, and the individual Medicare beneficiary pays 25 percent
of the costs and the taxpayer and Medicare, if you will, pays 75
percent.
I will bet you, Mr. Speaker, I will bet you that 98, 99 percent of
seniors voluntarily sign up for part B and they do it within the 6-
month window of opportunity because if they go beyond that then just
like in this part D, because a person on part D is an example, as
Representative Drake pointed out. If they do not sign up for it and
they go beyond the sign-up period, and then all of the sudden they get
sick and they go from taking that one drug a month at $78 that she
talked about to taking five at $5,000 a month, then they should pay
more for their premium. So it is very important and it is not a
punitive thing, but it is there to make the program work.
Mr. Speaker, we are again honored by one of our colleagues who has
served in this House. I think this is his fourth term, and I am talking
about the gentleman from Minnesota who I think very soon after November
will be the United States Senator from Minnesota, and I am speaking
none other than Representative Mark Kennedy.
Representative Kennedy, thank you for being with us tonight. I yield
to you at this time.
Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his
leadership on this issue and all that he has done to make sure that
that our seniors understand how important this program is and how it
can really benefit them. Too many are out there trying to just dish the
program and spread really complicating lies about it and scaring
seniors. That is not what we ought to be doing to our seniors.
We ought to be out there making sure they understand the benefits
that can be available to them. Through the efforts of you, so many in
the community, as was mentioned, more than 27 million seniors are now
enrolled in the Medicare part D prescription drug benefit. They are
seeing hundreds, even thousands of dollars of savings. In fact, CMS,
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, have projected that the
benefit will save the average senior $1,100 this year. Meanwhile, the
AARP and others have found that the benefit lowers the cost of drugs
for seniors by an average of 44 percent, with low income seniors seeing
price reductions of up to 90 percent.
Better yet, the average senior's monthly premium is 32 percent below
the average estimate, a third. This terrific reduction is evidence that
the market base competition used by Medicare part D is working to drive
down prices and increase the benefits for our seniors. At the same
time, CMS has reported that the projected costs of administering the
benefit has come down $7.6 billion in 2006 from what they originally
estimated, and States will see at least $700 million in additional
savings this year.
All of this is very good news. However, the May 15 deadline for
eligible seniors to sign up for the plan without penalty is fast
approaching. Well, the program's enrollment has surpassed earlier
estimates. There is now still more that needs to be done. That is why
it is important that community activists and we as Members of Congress
have been holding sign-up forms in our districts to spread the facts
about this great new voluntary program.
{time} 2230
These forums bring together CMS, trained volunteers, seniors and
their families together in an environment where questions can be
answered and seniors can become informed about which plan best fits
their needs so they can begin saving on their drug costs.
I was pleased to hold two large forums in my district in Minnesota
earlier this year, and I am working hard with other groups to help hold
forums of their own. I want to thank those community groups who work in
towns and cities all over this Nation to make sure seniors know their
options. These events and other forums are essential to making sure
that seniors who want to sign up for the Medicare drug plan are able to
do so before May 15.
Mr. Speaker, it is easy for me to stand here and talk about the
benefits of this plan, but do not just take it from me. Take it from
the seniors who are realizing, in some cases, hundreds of dollars in
savings every month. Countless seniors are reporting that they now have
more money to use for other things, like paying for their bills or
visiting their grandchildren.
Before the Republican Congress acted, we heard terrible stories of
seniors forced to choose between life-saving medication and food. We
heard these stories years, but we never saw action from our friends on
the other side of the aisle, but we acted. Seniors are saving as a
result.
I encourage my colleagues, and I thank Dr. Gingrey for his leadership
on this, to continue to educate seniors in their districts before this
May 15 deadline so every senior has access to affordable drug coverage,
and I would turn it back over to the distinguished doctor from Georgia
to continue to talk about what kind of benefit seniors are getting and
why it is important that we take the time to make sure they understand
before the May 15 deadline.
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say I thank the
gentleman, and I think the seniors are very fortunate, whether Mark
Kennedy is serving in this United States House of Representatives or
representing them in the other body soon as a senator in the United
States Senate. They are indeed fortunate to have his compassion and
caring attitude, and I commend him for that.
Mr. Speaker, I think what I would like to do here for a minute is
sort of frame this problem, before we delivered on this prescription
drug benefit, to make sure that our colleagues and anybody within
shouting or listening distance might possibly be watching our
proceedings tonight, did they understand the situation that existed
before we delivered on this promise of a prescription drug benefit part
D under the Medicare program. Where were the seniors getting their
prescription drug coverage before this plan?
Well, this first slide, Mr. Speaker, I want to make sure that my
colleagues can see this. There were a number of people. This is about
26 percent, an estimate of seniors that had employment-based plans. We
talked about that. We have talked about the fact that people worked 25,
30 years for a company, and part of their retirement benefit may be a
little pension hopefully and a little health care benefit, in many
cases to include a prescription drug coverage.
Now, there has been concern among these 26 percent because even
before we brought forward this well-conceived, well-thought-out plan,
in fact it was thought out pretty well, as I pointed out earlier on
March 9, 2000, by President Clinton and the Democratic leadership in
the Senate. They just did not deliver on it, but the 26 percent were
concerned because employers were dropping these plans or changing the
guidelines. All of a sudden a senior gets a letter in the mail, and it
says, oh, by the way, first of the year, you are going to have to pay,
instead of 20 percent of the premium, you are going to
[[Page H1669]]
have to pay 30, and oh, by the way, it is no longer going to cover
prescription drugs or we have got a very limited formulary; it is not
going to cover your hearing aid or your eyeglasses or whatever or even
worse than that, Mr. Speaker, would be the ultimate dear John letter.
That is a letter, that pink slip, that says, guess what, we are
dropping your coverage; we are going to completely drop your
prescription coverage or may, in fact, drop the whole health insurance
coverage, and this has happened.
It was happening, and under this plan, though, to prevent that, to
try to stop that, we, in designing this plan, this Republican majority,
this President, under our leadership, we said, look, we will help you,
John Q. Employer, if you will continue these plans and you will not
renege on these promises. We will reimburse you, really, for some of
the cost of those plans so that you do not drop them.
Again, I go back to my Clinton press release. One of the things that
they called for in 2000, optional of course for all beneficiaries as we
said earlier, but also provides financial incentives for employers to
develop and retain their retiree health coverage. That is what Clinton
and the Democrats called for. This is another thing that they have been
railing against, the fact that we have incentivized these employers not
to drop these plans.
Well, okay, 26 percent have employment-based plans. Three percent
individually purchase policies. That would be like my mom, Helen
Gingrey, my precious mom who has a medigap policy, but now,
unfortunately, the prescription part of that was so expensive that she
had to drop it. Of course, the Department of Veterans Affairs and
TRICARE, we talked about that. That is about 3 percent. About 12
percent are covered by the State Medicaid program. Some are more
generous than others, I think very generous in my State of Georgia, and
then some other State-based programs and other sources, 6 percent.
But the real eye-opener on this chart, on this pie graph, is that 40
percent before this plan, 40 percent were getting prescription drug
coverage out of their own pocket. In other words, they had no coverage,
and they had no bargaining power, Mr. Speaker. They simply went to the
drugstore and they paid sticker price, you know, like buying an
automobile and not getting any discount because you did not know to ask
for one. They had no clout, one individual and elderly, frail senior,
and so they were paying sticker price, and that was the problem. That
is why we knew that we had to do something, especially for the
neediest, especially for those who literally were breaking pills,
running out of medication, not going to the drugstore because they are
embarrassed that they could not pay.
It is an act of compassion on our part, really, for the neediest
seniors especially, and of course, now, the good news is that, and this
next slide shows, a total of 27 million seniors now have coverage under
Medicare Part D.
I see that the gentlewoman from Virginia has been kind enough to stay
with us, despite the lateness of the hour, and I want to yield a little
time to her and maybe we can get engaged in a little bit of a colloquy
in talking about the some of the things that we both notice in our
district.
Mrs. DRAKE. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for that, and you brought up the
issue of your mother, and that is a very important thing for us seniors
to be thinking about because many of our seniors did buy the
supplements that you are talking about that gave them some health care
coverage as well as their prescription drug benefits.
My daughter's mother-in-law has one of those, and she is paying over
$300 a month for it. So we went online, and we looked at what can she
get today under this new program. So I think it is important that
people like your mother do not think that because they have one of
those plans from before that that is good enough, that they can go on
today and save an incredible amount of money. You can go into plans
today that give you the health care coverage, as well as the
prescription drug coverage, but there, again, with that reduced
premium, my daughter's mother-in-law is going to save over $100 a month
by going in and revamping that policy.
I know a lot of our seniors got kind of hung up on the thought of
deductibles and things like that, but there again, you need to
understand that when Medicare set the plan, when Congress passed the
plan, they put a cap on what a deductible could be of $250, and many of
these plans have no deductibles. We keep talking about a donut hole
where there will be a gap in coverage at a certain point, and what I
say in my meetings is, if you did not have any coverage, you have been
living in a black hole. You can pick a plan that has no gap in coverage
based on what you want to pay monthly and how to streamline it for you.
The other point I wanted to make as you continue on is one of the
questions I have really been asked is what if I take no medication.
Isn't that a wonderful thing for our seniors today? I always look at
them and say I bet you bought a homeowner's policy and you have
insurance on your car and you buy those before you need them. Same
thing for our seniors with prescription drug coverage.
When they go in and look at these programs, there are so many
options, low-price options, that it is worth that for the peace of mind
to know that next year when you go to open enrollment, you can always
change the plan, upgrade the plan, but you are in the plan.
So I thank you for letting me talk about your mother.
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman and my mother
thanks the gentlewoman, but you have made such a great point about the
option, and Representative Drake talked about the number of plans in
Virginia. It is kind of similar in Georgia. There may be almost 50
plans, but there are only 18 companies.
But what that means is companies, good companies, offer more than one
plan, so that seniors have the option, as she described, to say, well,
if somebody says well I do not need that, I have got the Methuselah
gene, that means you live a long, healthy life. A person like that
might say, well, I do not take anything, I buy a few over-the-counter
drugs a year and I bet I do not spend $200 a year. Well, God bless
them. They are lucky. They are fortunate, but what Representative Drake
is talking about is that very next week may be the time that the chest
pain strikes and all of the sudden you have a coronary bypass or stints
put in and you are on five or six medications. That happened to yours
truly a couple or 3 years ago, and then all of the sudden you are kind
of stuck.
So what the gentlewoman from Virginia was saying is look, seniors, if
you are in that fortunate situation, do not roll the dice on this
because you could come up snake eyes. Go ahead and take one of these
plans where the monthly premium is 20 bucks a month. There is no
deductible. There is a donut hole, but you are not worried about that
donut hole because you are blessed with that Methuselah gene. Then
later on, as she so correctly pointed out, if something does happen,
then you can switch, and you do not have to pay a penalty because you
did not sign up; you did not roll the dice and come up snake eyes.
Then the corollary to that is say someone who has a lot of
prescription drug costs, they are already on six or eight drugs and
they are spending $10,000 a year, and they look at that and they say
hey, look, give me one, I will pay a higher monthly premium, I may pay
60 bucks a month premium, but that plan gives me coverage in that so-
called donut hole. That is important because they are already spending
a lot of money, and so you tailor these. The companies are actually
doing that. I think it is a great thing.
Mrs. DRAKE. That is what is so important is that our seniors have
choices, and you mentioned our veterans. I just wanted to finish up
with them and let you finish up this evening and to remind our veterans
that they are the only group of people that keep their veterans
benefits and can purchase into Medicare Part D as well. So that gives
them the ability, if there are medications they need that are not
covered by the VA, that they can be covered by Medicare Part D. So I
want to make sure that they understand that since they are the only
group that can have both.
So certainly thank you again for letting me be here. Thank you for
letting me talk about your mom and talking
[[Page H1670]]
about our veterans, and there are so many things to talk about with the
program. I would like to encourage everyone, if there is a workshop in
their area, to please attend because it is amazing the questions and
the answers and the much better understanding and that you realize this
is a good product for seniors. The price is so much lower, and it gives
them so many choices.
Mr. GINGREY. Well, I thank the gentlewoman, and I know she is looking
forward to going back into the 2nd District of Virginia tomorrow, and I
am sure she is one of the many Republican Members who have got those
town hall meetings scheduled to get those remaining 6 or 8 million
signed up, and I thank her.
At the outset, I said do not just take our word for it, and I have
been expounding a little bit for the last 50 minutes, but I did want to
give some anecdotal stories, and let us do that for a moment, Mr.
Speaker.
{time} 2245
Barbara W. From El Mirage, Arizona, had no prescription drug
coverage. She spent more than $2,600 a year on medication just this
past year. She wanted an inexpensive plan with a low premium, so she
did enroll in the part D plan, and it only had a $6.14 monthly premium.
In 2006, she will save $1,800, nearly $200 a month, the lady from
Arizona. God bless her.
Here is another, Mr. Speaker. Sandra S. from Woodland Hills,
California. In 2005, she spent $4,600 per year on prescription drugs.
She read about Medicare part D in the Los Angeles Times. I am sure they
weren't praising it, but thank goodness she read about it. She called
1-800-MEDICARE for help. She wanted a plan with no donut hole. We just
talked about that a minute ago. Her plan has a $50 monthly premium, no
deductible, no gap in coverage and, of course as all those plans, it
has that catastrophic coverage. So that if you really get into a year
where you have out-of-pocket expenses of $3,600, out of your own
pocket, then after that, the insurance pays 95 percent and you only pay
5 percent. What a godsend. Total savings for Sandra, $2,400 a year.
I think we have a couple more that I wanted to show. Barbara L. from
Kemp, Texas. In 2005, spent $2,100 on prescription drugs. She enrolled
in an AARP part D plan. They have a very good plan. So in 2006 she
expects to pay $360. Barbara saved $1,740.
Well, I could go on and on, but let me just say one other thing,
because I mentioned AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons.
I am proudly one of them. I am not retired, but I was eligible and got
my card at age 50, so I have had it a while. Thirty-seven million
seniors are members. And AARP is not typically a conservative
organization, supportive of Republican ideas. More typically, they are
supportive of the Democrat line of thought, and yet they have supported
this program.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle came down to the well,
Member after Member after Member, telling members of AARP to tear up
their cards and throw them out the window. Thank God for AARP.
In fact, we had a press conference today, Mr. Speaker, talking about
the plan and what the Republican Members are going to do when we go
back to our districts, and we have 76, count them, 76 organizations
that are supporting this program. The AIDS Institute, Alzheimer's
Association, American Geriatric Society, American Pharmacists
Association, Association of Black Cardiologists, National Hispanic
Medical Association, National Alliance For the Mentally Ill, National
Alliance for Hispanic Health, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association,
and Easter Seals. I could go on and on, but there are 76.
Let me talk briefly as we close about groups misleading seniors about
Medicare part D. In fact, they were out there protesting our press
conference on the terrace of the Cannon Building this afternoon. Guess
who was there chanting against seniors? MoveOn.org and far left shadow
groups.
So let's see. Doctors, pharmacists, hospitals, health care providers
and AARP, versus MoveOn.org, Nancy Pelosi, and other far-left groups.
Who do you trust with senior health? I think the answer is pretty
obvious, Mr. Speaker, and I am proud to be part of the solution and not
part of the problem.
Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I want to yield very quickly to the
chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, my chairman, and I am
talking about the gentleman from California, Representative Duncan
Hunter. I gladly yield to the chairman.
Mr. HUNTER. I thank my friend for yielding, Mr. Speaker, and I would
just take a minute. I have been watching my friend and the gentlewoman
from Virginia (Mrs. Drake), and I just wanted to tell you how proud I
am of the job that you do representing your districts and representing
those great contingencies of American veterans and active duty service
people in your district.
I wanted to say, and I know you have been talking about health care,
but I wanted to talk about another type of security just for one
second, and that is national security. And I know my friend has been to
Iraq, and I think he is going again soon, and many other Members of
this body, Democrat and Republican, are going. Now is the time when
America should take heart.
I have watched the newspapers and the mood of this House as of late,
and I feel, especially coming from the Democrat side, the message is
one that I have seen before. It is a message that we saw in the 1980s,
when Ronald Reagan faced down the Soviet Union, and you had calls from
the far left to the effect that President Reagan was going to have a
war with the Soviets, that he needed to acquiesce, he needed to engage,
even as they ringed our allies in Europe with SS-20 missiles. And yet
Ronald Reagan stood tough. He stood for a policy of peace through
strength. And at one point the Soviets picked up the phone and said,
can we talk? And when we talked, we talked about the disassembly of the
Soviet empire.
Similarly he stood tough in Central America, and today those two
nations in question, El Salvador and Nicaragua, have fragile
democracies because of America. Today, we are providing that military
shield in Iraq while we put this fragile government together, a
government based on something new in that part of the world: Freedom
and representative government.
You know, this has been done on the shoulders of the great American
servicemen and women who serve us in that very troubled and difficult
part of the world. And their job is dusty and dirty and sometimes
bloody, but it is worthwhile. And what they are giving to us, if we can
stabilize that country and that neighborhood and have a country that
has a benign relationship towards the United States, will accrue to the
benefit of generations of Americans.
So now is the time to take heart. Now is the time to not fail. Now is
the time to stand firm, and I want to thank the gentlemen for his work
on Armed Services and the Rules Committee, for the great work he does
in that regard.
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman so much in these
closing seconds. And of course we know of the work of the esteemed
chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Duncan
Hunter. What a wonderful way to close this hour.
What is more important than the defense of this Nation, as this great
patriot just described, and providing health care for our precious
seniors?
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