[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 56 (Wednesday, May 10, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H2495-H2499]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MEDICARE PART D

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania). 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, it is a pleasure to take this hour 
designated by the Speaker, by the leadership, we refer to it as the 
leadership hour, and to take an opportunity to talk about things that 
are important to this majority, are important, indeed, to the American 
people and that is what we are going to do during this hour.
  We are going to talk about the Medicare part D prescription drug 
benefit. But I want to digress for just a minute, Mr. Speaker. Our 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle just spent the better part of 
an hour talking about the budget. During the course of that colloquy, 
we heard the word ``hypocrisy'' used a number of times. I want to 
address this just for a moment, because the hypocrisy, of course, is to 
suggest that the tax cuts that this administration and this Republican 
majority have enacted and just today continued those tax cuts, refused 
to let the other side of the aisle in this body raise taxes on the 
American people.
  They spent a good deal of time talking about the fact that the rich 
get the biggest tax break. Well, the hypocrisy of that argument, Mr. 
Speaker, is that the rich, if you call someone with an adjusted gross 
income of $75,000 a year rich, then so be it. But these are the people 
that are paying most of the taxes. These are the people that are paying 
at the 39.6 marginal rate, the highest rate. So for them in any across-
the-board tax cut, and indeed that is exactly what this is, every 
taxpayer saves money. But those that are paying the most in taxes with 
an across-the-board cut, Mr. Speaker, are quite naturally on a dollar 
amount, not a percentage amount but on a dollar amount, are going to 
get the biggest tax break. Of course they are.
  But what is that enabling them to do, the small business men and 
women in this country who create probably 75 percent of the jobs? It is 
to grow their businesses, because of the opportunity to rapidly 
depreciate for capital improvements and bricks and mortar and putting 
in a new product line in their business, to hire some of these people 
who today because of their unemployment are not paying any taxes.
  It is really hard, I think, and I think my colleagues understand 
this, the American people understand it, it is really pretty hard to 
get a tax refund when you are not paying any taxes. But indeed we do 
that, too. The child tax credit, increasing them from $600 to $1,000. 
Those are refundable tax credits that are going to people who indeed 
are not paying any taxes.
  Mr. Speaker, again, as I said at the outset, what we are talking 
about tonight has got to be one of the most important things that we 
have done for the American people since Medicare was first passed when 
I was a freshman medical student in 1965, where there was a part A, the 
hospital part; a part B, the doctor part; but no part D, the drug part. 
For many years, I am going to say probably within 5 years of the 
passage of that bill, people were starting to wonder why we didn't have 
that benefit of prescription drugs when more and more of these wonder 
drugs, whether we are talking about pharmaceuticals or antibiotics or 
whether we are talking about beta blockers for heart disease and high 
blood pressure and irregular heart rhythms, whether we are talking 
about oral, by-mouth chemotherapy. And we realized, of course, it 
wasn't just surgery, cutting something out, a diseased organ, that we 
really need to put our emphasis on, it is preventive health care and 
allowing people to be able to afford to get prescription drugs to lower 
the blood sugar, to prevent the ravages of diabetes, such as losing 
your limb or having your kidneys fail and going on renal dialysis and 
maybe eventually needing a kidney transplant. Or to treat high blood 
pressure, a condition which for a long time has no symptoms, absolutely 
no symptoms. It is incipient. We use that word. A person could end up 
in the emergency room having already had a stroke before anybody knew 
that they had high blood pressure. Or talk about coronary artery 
disease which most people have in adult life. And until we realized 
that elevated cholesterol and certain type lipids in the blood stream 
is what caused those plaques to form in those coronary arteries that 
supply blood, and oxygen, of course, to the heart muscle, when we 
finally realized that if we could lower cholesterol and lipids in the 
body, that we could prevent heart disease, coronary artery disease, 
heart attacks, and not have to resort to what we know, of course, today 
as bypass surgery. It is such a compassionate thing to prevent these 
diseases rather than to treat them when people are really, really in 
danger of sudden death or a stroke.
  That is what this is all about. That is what this Republican 
leadership, President Bush, has delivered to the American people, a 
promise that other Congresses have made.

                              {time}  2230

  I can assure you that work was done on this in the past, but former 
Presidents, former administrations, former Congresses just failed to 
deliver.
  And so we are very proud to stand here tonight and talk about this 
wonderful addition to Medicare, the part D prescription drug part. It 
is optional. It is just like part B, Mr. Speaker; a person doesn't have 
to sign up for it.
  Yes, it is premium based. There is a monthly premium often deducted 
from the Social Security check of those who can afford it. And those 
who cannot afford it, it is not going to cost them anything.
  The low-income seniors who qualify for the Medicare supplement on 
this wonderful program, for them, they pay no deductible, they pay no 
monthly premium. There is no gap in the coverage. They have 
catastrophic coverage, and the only cost may be $1 for a month's supply 
of a generic drug, or up to $5 for a month's supply of a brand name 
drug.
  There are approximately 42.7 current Medicare beneficiaries in this 
country today. And, Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, I want to draw your 
attention to my first slide because this really shows you the success 
that we have had in this 6-month opportunity, starting November 15 
through upcoming, in 6 days, May 15. Of those almost 43 million 
Medicare beneficiaries, most of them, because of age 65, possibly 5 or 
6 million because of a disability at a younger age--look at this, Mr. 
Speaker--37 million seniors now have prescription drug coverage under 
Medicare part D, 37 million.
  Now, we want to get this up to 40 million in the next 6 days. And 
that is really why I am here tonight, to get this message out to let 
those few stragglers, if you will, in regard to signing up, to do 
everything we can. And we will do that back in our districts. We have 
been doing it. In fact, I have been working on that, talking about 
trying to get that message out for over 2 years, when we first passed 
this Medicare Modernization Prescription Drug Act in November of 2003, 
a very proud moment for this physician-Member, by the way, to support 
such a wonderful program.
  But now we have got the latest count, 37 million, and that is, I 
think, a fantastic achievement in this first sign -p period.
  Why is it so important? Well, seniors, if you can see on this next 
slide, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, seniors are saving an average of 
$1,100 a year with Medicare prescription drug coverage. Maybe more 
importantly, though, that is average for the 37 million that are signed 
up. But maybe more importantly, the low-income seniors are saving an 
average of $3,700 a year. $3,700 a year, that is a lot of money.
  Mr. Speaker, in regard to that number that I just shared with my 
colleagues, $3,700 a year for those low-income seniors, and that is why 
we are pushing so hard in these next 6 days.
  Of the 6 million, I said 37 million have signed up out of almost 43 
million. Of those 6 million that haven't, we are estimating, pretty 
accurately, that close to 3 million of those are low income. They 
qualify for this subsidy, and some of them, as I say, their only cost 
of these lifesaving prescriptions would be a $1 copay. And so it is 
very important, most important that we get

[[Page H2496]]

the word out to them in these next few days, and to get them signed up, 
because this is literally a Godsend.
  It is a no-brainer. And for whatever reason, maybe they have heard 
some of the disingenuous, well, downright, you know, they talked about 
the H word in their hour just a few minutes ago, hypocrisy from the 
other side. Regrettably, I feel that that is part of the reason why the 
most needy, 3 million of them, have missed the opportunity thus far, 
but we are determined to get the word out to them. That is the 
compassionate thing to do and we are doing it.
  Proof of the pudding, Mr. Speaker. More than a million seniors have 
enrolled in Medicare part D just since April. I am talking about a 2-
week period. So we are talking about almost 500,000 people have signed 
up just in the last 2\1/2\ weeks. So we are getting the word out, and 
thank God, our seniors are responding.
  Well, how is the program working for those that may have signed up on 
November 15, 2005, and immediately, January 1, 2006, started getting 
their prescriptions with a prescription drug benefit? Before that, of 
course, we know that the seniors, probably the only group of patients 
that go to the drug store, went to the drug store and had to pay 
sticker price. They weren't getting any deals, and nobody negotiated 
any discount for them because of volume buying.
  It was just like going to buy a new automobile and paying that price 
on the windshield that we refer to as sticker price. Most people don't 
have to do that. But that is what the seniors were doing. Well, really, 
that is what some were doing. A lot were just too embarrassed to even 
go into the drug store knowing that they couldn't afford to pay even 
half that amount.
  But what has happened since January 1 over this 5-month period? Well, 
90, and I want to call my colleagues' attention to this next slide. I 
know the printing is a little small, but look closely because these 
numbers are very telling. Ninety-one percent of seniors say their plan 
is convenient to use at their pharmacy.
  And I want to thank our pharmacists, too, by the way, especially our 
independent pharmacists because a lot of times it is just them and 
maybe a clerk up front, and yet they are spending the time to explain; 
and I know it is at significant cost to their bottom line. And I think 
that they are to be commended because they have helped make this 
program a success, and we are committed to continuing to work with 
them.
  I know, Mr. Speaker, in my district, I have met just within the last 
10 days with some good personal friends who are independent 
pharmacists, and they are bringing some concerns to us. There is still 
some heartburn on their part, and I understand that, and we are going 
to continue to work with them because of the great work that they have 
done for us.
  Going back to the slide, 90 percent say that they know how their plan 
works and they know how to use it. Eighty-five percent say their plan 
covers all the medicines they need. And nearly 80 percent are happy 
with the amount of coverage they have, and this is so important, they 
would recommend their plan to others.
  I don't want to miss this opportunity to say, my colleagues, and I am 
sure on both sides of the aisle, you have had similar experiences. My 
mom, God bless my mom. I am thinking about her of course a lot this 
week because of Mother's Day coming up on Sunday. But the greatest 
Mother's Day gift that I gave to her, Mom is 88 years old, I don't 
think she would mind me telling that because she looks like she is 68, 
and if it wasn't for a couple of gimpy knees, she would still be out on 
the golf course.
  But I sat down with Mom a couple of months ago and we went through 
this. It was a little bit time consuming, maybe a little bit more 
confusing than I thought or she thought it would be. But she is saving 
about $1,200 a year now. And this is what we are talking about, real, 
real savings.
  Mom's very happy with the program. She picked her own drug store, 
very close by her home in Aiken, South Carolina, and she didn't have to 
change a thing and is very pleased with the program.
  Listen to what some of the senior organizations are saying about this 
program today. And, Mr. Speaker, I remember during the debate, and of 
course we got accused of passing this bill in the dark of night; I 
would say to my colleagues in regard to that, we started the debate 
late in the afternoon and we were determined to get our work done, so 
we ended up on final passage, yes, in the dark of night. But had we 
started our debate in the dark of night, we would have passed this bill 
in the bright sunshine of the afternoon. That is just the way the clock 
works.
  I look at my job, Mr. Speaker, as a 24/7 job, and I am not a clock-
watcher, just like I wasn't when I practiced medicine and delivered 
babies before coming to this body. People were always coming to me 
saying, don't all babies come in the middle of the night? And I said, 
well, no. But it seems that way because the patient either comes in in 
the middle of the night and ends up delivering in the daytime or comes 
in in the daytime and ends up delivering in the middle of the night.
  We delivered this baby in the middle of the night, but a beautiful, 
beautiful baby it was and is.
  And the other side criticized that great senior organization known as 
the AARP, of which I have been a member for, started at age 50, I won't 
tell you how many years. I don't want to tell my age because my wife 
says that will tell her age.
  But they were so mad, so mad that this organization, AARP, with 37 
million seniors as part of that group, had the audacity to support a 
Republican bill.
  Look what the AARP says today, Mr. Speaker. With the Medicare drug 
program, more older Americans than ever before have access to 
affordable prescription drugs.
  The focus right now needs to be on helping people, not playing 
politics. Discouraging enrollment is a disservice to the millions who 
could be saving money on prescription drug bills. That's a quote from 
the president and CEO of the AARP, Bill Novelli. And I know Mr. 
Novelli, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle know him and know 
that he doesn't play politics. He is just stating the facts. No 
hypocrisy here, Mr. Speaker.
  Well, I am not a regular reader of the New York Times, maybe the 
Washington Times. The New York Times is not known as a bastion of 
conservatism. But listen to what they say: ``The Medicare drug 
benefit's success depends heavily on getting lots of healthy people to 
sign up so that their premiums can help subsidize medicine for the 
chronically ill. The May 15 deadline should serve as a useful product 
to force fence-sitters to make a decision.'' Now, that is a New York 
Times editorial, April 3, 2006.
  Mr. Speaker, when we were debating, we had this resolution, Nancy 
Johnson, the distinguished chairwoman of the Health Subcommittee of 
Ways and Means, put forward a resolution this evening encouraging all 
Members of this body to work hard over this next week to get people 
signed up. But the other side continues to try to put up a fence to be 
obstructionist to say, you know, don't sign up, and criticizing us for 
encouraging them to sign up, saying that we are cruel, that we are 
going to enact a penalty if they don't.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, the fact is, a lot of people, good people, good 
seniors are just like this senior. They have a tendency to 
procrastinate.

                              {time}  2245

  If it was not for the April 15 deadline, I would never get my tax 
return in. Even with that, if there is an opportunity to extend it 
without significant penalty, I am going to take that opportunity. I 
have done that probably every year for the last 10 or so, waiting until 
absolutely until the last minute when really I had the facts, I had the 
information, and I needed to go ahead and get that done. But I just 
kind of put it off until the last minute. That is why we have a 
deadline. It is not to be cruel or to be coercing or forcing anybody to 
do anything.
  But, clearly, we anticipate that because of that deadline, and kind 
of a wake-up call to people, that 1.6 million more will sign up between 
now and next Monday. That is what that is all about. The New York Times 
certainly understands that. I can't understand why our colleagues on 
the other side of the aisle who probably, most of whom read that 
newspaper every day, it is

[[Page H2497]]

kind of maybe sort of biblical for them. They can't understand that, or 
maybe they missed that particular article.
  Listen to what the St. Petersburg Times said. Here is good news. 
Without exception, every senior I saw on the way out of the Gulfport 
Senior Center, that is in St. Petersburg, was happy or relieved.
  Carolyn Toliver, Dallas Texas Area on Aging. Carolyn Toliver, the 
benefits counseling coordinator at the Dallas Area Agency on Aging says 
she is not phased by the prospect of a last-minute surge. She even 
admits to wishing for one. I hope we are overrun, she said. This is a 
generous benefit. I don't want anyone to miss out on it.
  Here, again, from the New York Times editorial pages, it says many 
seniors are clearly saving money on drugs purchases. I quote, 
complaints and call waiting times are diminishing and many previously 
uninsured patients are clearly saving money on drug purchases. That was 
in The New York Times, an article entitled Medicare Drug Challenges. It 
was an editorial, actually, on April 3rd of this year.
  Mr. Speaker, the news indeed, is good despite, again, a lot of 
negativism on the other side. There were a number of things that were 
suggested when the opposition for this program was so strong. But 
today, as I pointed out at the outset, 37 million have signed up.
  Listen to this breakdown, because this is important too; 8.9 million 
enrolled in the stand-alone prescription drug plan, almost 9 million, 
5.9 million are enrolled some Medicare Advantage. That is the program 
that used to be Medicare+Choice, but because of Medicare modernization, 
Mr. Speaker, it is much, much improved. Almost 6 million of the so-
called dual eligibles, those people that because of their low-income 
and age were eligible not only for Medicare but Medicaid.
  Almost 7 million retirees are enrolled in a Medicare retiree subsidy. 
That is a supplemental plan that includes prescription drug coverage. 
There are still people that had the option, and I think is real 
important for us to remember that nobody is forced into Medicare part 
D. If they have got something that is just as good if not better, then 
we have encouraged them to stay in those programs. They are.
  Then, of course, there are 3.5 million that are covered under Federal 
retiree coverage, 1.9 million are could have had under TRICARE, 1.6 
million are covered through the Federal employee health benefit plan, 
and then 5.8 million Medicare beneficiaries have some alternative 
source of what we referred to as credible prescription drug coverage.
  Some examples of that, Mr. Speaker, would be like Veterans Affairs, 
people are getting their medication. They are 65, they are on Medicare, 
they are eligible, part A and part B. But as far as the prescription 
drug part, they are utilizing the Veterans Administration. There are 
about 3.2 million that are using the VA. There are probably at least 
100,000 that are getting their prescriptions through the Indian Health 
Service.
  There are maybe another half a million who are still working at age 
65 and older, and they have a health insurance program that includes 
prescription drugs. Even though they are eligible for Medicare, they 
opt for those programs.
  If those programs, we call them credible programs, if they are just 
as good or better than the part D, and then something happens to one of 
those plans, maybe the premium is raised, maybe the copay is raised. 
Maybe the things that are covered are lessened. The coverage is not as 
good. Then a senior, and this is important information, this question 
is asked almost every time I have a town hall meeting, then if they 
want to switch into Medicare part D, that can be done, Mr. Speaker, 
without any penalty, without any penalty whatsoever. That kind of 
brings me to a point that I think is very important to make.
  Our friends on the other side keep saying that we are going to enact 
a 7 percent Medicare tax. That is the 1 percent per month additional 
premium that seniors have to pay if they miss the deadline. They say 
that we are imposing that tax, that Medicare tax, on those who can 
least afford it.
  Now, here again, the H word that I referred to earlier, this time is 
not hypocrisy, this time it is honesty and lack of. Because the fact is 
that there will be no penalty for anyone, those almost 3 million that 
we think are low income and have not signed up yet, we are going to 
continue to look for them. We are going to continue to talk to them in 
every way we can, print out, print media, television spots, town hall 
meetings by Members, hopefully on both sides of the aisle, to get them 
signed up beyond May 15, if they miss a deadline with absolutely no 
penalty.
  There will be a penalty for those others who are blessed with more 
assets, more resources, more income, who failed to sign up for whatever 
reason. But I guess the majority of those just would be simple 
procrastination. They will have to pay that penalty.
  So we are doing, I think, and that 37 million represents 87 percent 
of Medicare beneficiaries we think will get to 90 percent by Monday. 
For the first year of a program, and, indeed, the first of 6-month 
opportunity to sign up, that ain't too shabby.
  I think that as these that don't sign up that miss the deadline, 
realize, and, of course, they are not going to be able to get into the 
program until the next sign up period, which is November 15 of this 
year through December 31. Even though they are going to be faced with a 
7 percent additional premium, they are going to come in.
  I think we are going to be approaching the high 90s, just like the 
optional program part B that covers doctor care and outpatient surgery 
and outpatient testing. That is such a good program that, of course, 
was enacted in 1965. A lot of people back then said, oh, that is too 
confusing. I am not sure I want to do that.
  Well, you look, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues today, when people turn 
65, there is no question because they have the history of the success 
of part B. The same thing is going to happen with part D.
  We are making great progress, and my own State of Georgia, I would be 
remiss if I didn't give a little statistic on that. But we, in the 
State of Georgia, overall, are approaching a 90 percent signup rate. We 
have total people in Georgia now with prescription drug coverage on the 
Medicaid, 785,000 and growing.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about some of 
the things that we have heard during the debate on this program. One of 
the things that keeps coming up is this issue of drug reimportation, of 
being able to buy medications either over the Internet, mail order from 
another country, particularly Canada, or to actually, if you live on 
the northern border to actually go across the border and buy 
prescription drugs and get them a lot cheaper than they were in this 
country.
  Before we came forward in November of 2003 with this program, that is 
what people were having to do. The seniors literally were being forced 
to do something that was not approved by the secretary of HHS, the 
Secretary under President Clinton, the Secretary under George H. W. 
Bush, because there was some concern about safety, about packaging and 
contamination and bioterrorism.
  But, nevertheless, people were doing that, taking a chance and buying 
those medications because they were saving. But listen to what's 
happened since this program started January 1st of this year. This is 
from an article in a newspaper in Minnesota, which is one of those 
border States by the way.
  While enrollment in the Medicare drug benefit rose by 9 percent, 
sales of low-cost Canadian drugs last month fell by 52 percent.
  Why do you think that happened, my fellow colleagues? It happened 
because all of a sudden seniors were realizing now they were able to 
get their medication from their corner druggist right down the street 
at almost as low, maybe even as low or lower than what they were paying 
in going across the border and buying prescription drugs and taking a 
risk with their health.
  So while I was concerned, and I think that if this program was not 
working, that I would tend to agree with some of my colleagues who want 
to say, well, it ought to be legal to buy drugs from Canada. I think 
that we have negated the need for that with this program. That is what 
I hope we would accomplish. Indeed we have.
  There was just another thing, Mr. Speaker, that I want to talk about 
too,

[[Page H2498]]

that is the pharmaceutical drug discount program. Our pharmaceutical 
industry is a profitable industry. They get lambasted a lot by the 
other side of the aisle, about making too much profits and that sort of 
thing.
  But I don't ever hear them commending the pharmaceutical industry 
because of the compassion that they have shown with their prescription 
drug discount program, not just for low-income seniors, but for low-
income everybody. They literally are giving away prescription drugs to 
people who meet certain criteria. Maybe they are not eligible for 
Medicaid in the State in which they live because they make a little bit 
too much, or maybe they have a few too many assets.
  But the pharmaceutical companies, and each one's programs, is a 
little bit different. But, you know, let's say somebody is on Lipitor 
or on Pravachol or on Prevocet or on one of these expensive 
medications. They are literally getting those drugs for free.

                              {time}  2300

  Some people that signed up for the Medicare part D have been 
concerned because if they reach the donut hole and have to pay a lot 
out of their pocket, they feel like maybe they are in a program that is 
costing them more money because they had to come off of those 
pharmaceutical prescription drug discount programs.
  Well, the Inspector General had confused the pharmaceutical companies 
a little bit, and there was some concern about these programs and if 
they could legally continue. I want to tell you that Members of this 
body, I think really on both sides of the aisle, went to CMS, talked 
with the Inspector General and said, you know, that is not right. We 
need to let these companies continue to do that.
  Listen to what the result of that effort was, Mr. Speaker: Drug 
makers can continue assistance programs for seniors. HHS secretary Mike 
Leavitt: ``This is excellent news. In a legal opinion that could help 
many thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, drug manufacturers were told 
Tuesday,'' that was a couple of week ago, Mr. Speaker, ``that they can 
continue giving free medicine to poor people even if they are enrolled 
for the new drug benefit.''
  Each year, large drug companies routinely give millions of free 
prescriptions to the poor. However, most of the drug companies had said 
that they would discontinue this practice for senior citizens now that 
they could get coverage through Medicare.
  We have reversed that. As Secretary Leavitt said, and I will give a 
quote here, ``this is excellent news for the many people with Medicare 
who have relied on these valuable patient assistance programs.''
  The bottom line is a senior now can enjoy both the advantage of being 
on a Medicare part D prescription drug program and also the benefit 
when they get to the point where they otherwise would have to pay the 
full price at somewhat of a discount out of their own pocket, then the 
pharmaceutical companies can come in and fill that gap. A great 
program.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to take some time to talk about individual 
cases. I think a lot of times my colleagues, we talk and tell facts and 
try to make our points, but I don't think anything does that better 
than what we refer to as anecdotal evidence. In other words, real live 
situations, people that give their testimonial.
  Listen to some of these. Mae Thacker of Kingston, Georgia, that is in 
the Eleventh District, my district in Bartow County, northwest of 
Atlanta, May was paying $781 a month for her medications. That is a lot 
of money. She had heard Medicare part D wouldn't save her any money and 
wasn't worth her time.
  That is sad, because that is the kind of rhetoric that far too many 
seniors have been hearing over the last couple of years.
  But its detractors were wrong. Mae learned about the program and she 
enrolled. She enrolled. And, guess what? With Medicare part D, Mae 
Thacker now pays only $178 a month. $781 a month with no Medicare part 
D; $178 a month with it. Total savings, my colleagues, $600 a month. 
That means I think that Mae Thacker can now pay her utility bill, buy 
her groceries, have a roof over her head and afford to get those 
prescription drugs that can save her life.
  Here is another. This is an e-mail that I received again from the 
Eleventh District of Georgia. Jerry O'Brien, Cobb County, my home 
county for the last 30 years. Here is what Jerry says. ``I went to 
Medicare.gov, www.medicare.gov, and I found a comparison of various 
programs. I chose one for my wife at a premium of $70 a month, but no 
deductible.
  The deductible, I think everybody knows, cannot be more than $250 a 
month for Medicare to approve that as a prescription drug plan. It 
can't be more than $250 a month, but it can be less. Jerry found one by 
going to the website that had no deductible and a $70 a month premium.
  Jerry goes on to say, ``We had no prescription insurance before and 
find Medicare part D to be very effective. We saved enough on the first 
prescriptions to pay for two months of the premiums.'' So the first 
prescriptions they saved $140.
  ``I realize the program got off to a shaky start, but as far as I am 
concerned, it is now working well.'' Jerry O'Brien, Cobb County, 
Georgia.
  Let's go out to Colorado, about as far as you can get in this country 
from Georgia, heading out west. Lyda, Lyda B lives in Colorado Springs, 
Colorado. Lyda had no prescription drug coverage and she was paying 
$1,200 a year for her medications. She found out she was eligible for 
extra help as a low income senior.
  Remember we talked about those, and really that has been the major 
emphasis of my discussion tonight, about how important it is to get to 
those 3 million here in the next 6 days. We are going to get close. We 
are going to get close.
  She found out she was eligible for the extra help, and, thank 
goodness, Lyda enrolled in a plan for her, not only no deductible, but 
no monthly premium. There is a premium, but Medicare pays for that 
because she qualifies because of low income and low assets.
  With Medicare Part D, Lyda now pays only $3 per prescription, saving 
her hundreds of dollars a month. Just think about that. $3 a 
prescription. A prescription would be a month's supply. If she were on 
one drug, then she is paying $36 a year. If she were on two, it would 
be $72 a year. If it were three, it would be just over $100. Compared 
to $1,200? A great deal for Lyda. Thank God she has taken advantage of 
it.
  Mr. Speaker, here is another. I don't have but about 15 minutes left, 
but I probably could spend 2 hours sharing these testimonials. Fern 
from Peabody, Massachusetts, she was paying $2,100 a year for 
medications. With Medicare Part D, Fern now pays only $660 a year. She 
says the savings are worth the time, and the enrollment process was not 
confusing or complicated.
  There is lots of help. The health insurance assistance programs in 
all 50 States, they are called different things, I think it is Georgia 
Cares in the State of Georgia, but this organization, plus all these 
senior organizations that volunteer their time at senior centers, maybe 
at your local library, the pharmacist in the drugstores, particularly 
the chain drugstores, CVS, Walgreens, Eckards, they have something 
called Medicare Tuesdays, Medicare Part D Tuesdays, where a pharmacist, 
instead of being behind a counter, there is one behind the counter 
filling prescriptions, but there is another one dedicated all day long 
to just sitting there and welcoming seniors to come in and let them 
explain the program to them and give them some options and help them 
get through the little confusion to get signed up.
  These are just a few of the stories. I particularly wanted to, Mr. 
Speaker, talk about a lady in Polk County, one of my favorite counties 
in my district. Lola Squires of Polk County was paying $1,016 a month 
for her medications. As a widow on a fixed income, she often had to 
choose between buying food and buying medicine. With Medicare Part D, 
Lola now pays only $27 a month and her savings are almost $1,000 a 
month, $989.
  Well, the whole point is the initial enrollment period ends May 15, 
Monday. Again, we want to say to those 5\1/2\, 6 million not signed up, 
sign up now to avoid the premium increase penalties. There will be no, 
and I repeat, no premium increase penalties on the low income. It is 
important that I say that over and over again, because the other

[[Page H2499]]

side is suggesting just the opposite, and it is flat out not true.
  The way to do it, www.medicare.gov, or just pick up the telephone and 
dial 1-800-Medicare. Log on or call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 
personalized assistance with Medicare Part D. The amount of personnel 
has been beefed up tremendously in this last 6 weeks so when you dial 
that number the wait time probably is not going to be more than 45 
seconds.
  We are making the effort, and we will continue to make the effort, 
because it is the right and compassionate thing to do, Mr. Speaker.
  I would just like to say in conclusion, we fuss and fight a lot 
around here, my colleagues. We all know that. Sometimes we embellish a 
little bit the arguments we make. And sometimes, very usually in a very 
honest way, we have differences of opinion on legislation and 
amendments and how you can make a bill a little bit better. We try to 
always not let the perfect get in the way and destroy the good. And 
that is the typical process.
  But in something like this, I think that even though when we passed 
this bill, so-called in the wee hours of the night in November of 2003, 
there was bipartisan support. There was a lot of rhetoric back and 
forth, but in the final analysis there was bipartisan support.
  It is time for the losing side, if you will, to get over that, to put 
that behind them, and not to continue to be obstructionists in a 
program that is a God-send for so many of our seniors and an absolute 
no-brainer as to whether or not they should sign up.
  Back then, 2 years ago, you saw Members come to the well and 
symbolically tear up their AARP card because that organization had the 
nerve to support a Republican program, or to take that prescription 
drug discount card, that transitional program, remember my colleagues, 
where low income seniors got a $600 credit towards the purchase of each 
of those drugs, for 2 years, $1,200 real money before we got this 
program up and running January 6? Our colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle were saying, tear up those cards.
  Well, that is all history. That is all water over the dam, 
regrettable. But it is definitely time for us to say to our colleagues, 
put that behind you. It is an election year. We know that. We can fight 
and fuss over other things. We can try to create wedge issues and play 
``gotcha'' and make the other side look bad, and hope we can on our 
side keep the majority and on your side gain it. That is fine. That is 
fair. That is what this process is all about.
  But in a program like this, where we are talking about needy seniors, 
let's don't play politics with it at all. Let's do the right thing, and 
the right thing is to get out there, Members, on both sides of the 
aisle. When you come home late tomorrow night or early Friday morning, 
have a town hall meeting on Friday, maybe one on Saturday and one on 
Monday, and tell the seniors, even if you don't think this program is 
what it should have been and you could have presented a better program, 
let them know that there is a good benefit here and they need to sign 
up for it.

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