[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 19274]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE FOR EVERY SENIOR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month I visited members of 
the AARP in Clifton, New Jersey, to talk about issues that affect 
senior citizens. The first thing they asked me is, ``Are we ever going 
to get prescription drug coverage?'' And I said to them the best answer 
I could come up with, ``I hope so.''
  Obviously, these seniors are not alone in questioning whether or not 
Congress will actually do something or if this is yet another example 
of political posturing during an election year.
  The only certainty I could leave these seniors is the fact that I 
support prescription drug coverage through the Medicare program and 
that I was committed to working in a bipartisan fashion to guarantee 
that it gets done this Congress.
  The need for a comprehensive prescription drug plan is clear, and the 
time for Congress to act is now.
  Seniors understand better than anyone else the high cost of 
prescription drugs. The lack of comprehensive coverage for seniors 
forces them to make decisions that threaten the quality of their lives 
and indeed their well-being.
  The number of seniors without drug coverage is increasing day after 
day. Right now, approximately three out of every five Medicare 
beneficiaries lack decent, dependable drug coverage. Thirteen million 
beneficiaries have no prescription coverage, and millions more are at 
risk of losing coverage.
  Most seniors without prescription drug coverage are middle-class 
folks. Many of those seniors have retiree plans without comprehensive 
coverage, and even those with coverage are on the verge of losing it.
  Why? Because the number of firms offering retiree health insurance 
coverage dropped 30 percent between 1993 and 1999. Another reason is 
that, in many States, insurers that participate in the Medicare+Choice 
program are also dropping out because of low Medicare reimbursements. 
We have this all across America. This is not a partisan issue. This 
cuts across party lines.
  Other Medicare HMOs, like in the State of New Jersey, are cutting 
their prescription plans when their profit margin decreases. We must 
understand that.
  In fact, I spoke to an HMO official in New Jersey the other day who 
informed me that, unless Medicare reimburses for prescription drugs, 
HMOs would continue to drop the coverage, compounding the situation's 
severity.
  This leaves seniors stranded. The high cost of prescription drugs for 
seniors without coverage is of grave concern. Senior citizens tend to 
live on fixed incomes. These incomes are adjusted to keep up with the 
rate of inflation.
  With this in mind, Families USA recently reported that 50 of the most 
commonly used prescription drugs by seniors increased in cost at nearly 
twice the rate of inflation in 1999. That cannot be acceptable by 
anybody on this floor.
  Seniors that use drugs to combat chronic illnesses are hit even 
harder. Many times they are forced to spend over 10 percent of their 
income on prescription drugs.
  If a senior has diabetes, if a senior has hypertension, high 
cholesterol, they need to maintain their health every day with 
prescription medication.
  For example, a widow living with one of these illnesses and an income 
within 150 percent of poverty level without comprehensive coverage will 
spend 18.3 percent of her annual income on prescription medications. 
This example is one of many reasons why we cannot delay passing a 
voluntary prescription drug plan through Medicare.
  Congress has the responsibility to pass a prescription drug benefit 
that is affordable and accessible to every senior citizen in America. 
We must guarantee that market vulnerability and poor Medicare 
reimbursements no longer keep seniors from getting prescription drug 
coverage.

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