[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10540-10541]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       GOP PRESCRIPTION DRUG PLAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 23, 2002, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida 
(Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).


                      Recognition of Anthony Zecca

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey 
for his kindness in yielding.
  I would like to recognize Anthony Zecca on his retirement as chief of 
police for the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians. Chief Zecca has been a 
pillar of strength and trust for his community and has provided 
assistance and protection for all. His leadership as a law enforcement 
officer over the last 45 years has earned him respect and admiration 
from his community.
  Chief Zecca began his career as a police officer with the New York 
Police Department and came to the Miccosukee Tribe in 1976. Within a 
year he was promoted to lieutenant and was appointed chief of police in 
1978.
  Please join me in recognizing Chief Anthony G. Zecca for the 
commendable service he has provided and for his commitment to the south 
Florida community. And I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Pallone), and I know that he knows the Miccosukee Tribe very well and 
knows Chief Zecca.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 
Ros-Lehtinen). I met the chief on one occasion when I went down there 
with the gentlewoman's husband, and he is really an outstanding 
individual.
  Let me say, Mr. Speaker, that the reason that I am in the well this 
morning is because of my concern about the Republican leadership effort 
to bring up their prescription drug bill today in the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce and in the Committee on Ways and Means. I have said 
many times that I am glad that the Republican leadership is finally 
willing to bring up a bill; however, it is quite clear that their 
legislation does nothing more than throw some money to private 
insurance companies in the hope that they will provide some sort of 
prescription drug benefit. And I am very concerned that, unlike the 
Democratic proposal which provides for a guaranteed Medicare benefit, 
80 percent of which is being paid for by the Federal Government, and 
which brings down costs by giving the power to the Secretary of the 
Department of Health and Human Services to have 30 or 40 million 
seniors who can now negotiate lower drug prices, this is what we need. 
Democrats are proposing a Medicare benefit, a guaranteed benefit, 80 
percent paid for by the Federal Government, just like what we have now 
for part B of Medicare that covers your doctor bills.
  What the Republicans are proposing and bringing up in committee today 
and tomorrow is a sham. It is nothing more than an effort to try to 
convince the American people that somehow they are going to provide a 
benefit that will not exist. It is illusory because it is nothing more 
than giving money to private insurance companies without any guaranteed 
benefit, without any Medicare benefit, and without any cost control.
  But I have said over and over again that Members do not have to take 
my word for it. In the last few weeks, commentators in the New York 
Times and various media around the country have pointed out rather 
dramatically that the Republican proposal will not work, that it is 
designed for failure, and if I could just use a couple of quotes to 
point that out, in Sunday's New York Times there was an article by 
Robert Pear, and it says, and I want to quote a few sections, under the 
Republican proposal, ``Medicare would pay subsidies to private entities 
to offer insurance covering the costs of prescription drugs. Such `drug 
only' insurance does not exist and many private insurers doubt whether 
they could offer it at an affordable price.''
  A quote: ``I am very skeptical that `drug only' private plans would 
develop,'' said Bill Gradison, a former Congressman who was president 
of the Health Insurance Association of America from 1993 to 1998.
  The insurance companies themselves are telling the Republican 
leadership that these drug-only policies will not work. They will not 
be offered. It is a hoax on the American people and on our seniors to 
suggest that somehow this Republican bill is going to provide a 
benefit. It will not provide a benefit. Nobody is even going to offer 
the benefit.
  Today in the New York Times, an opinion piece by Paul Krugman, who is 
a regular contributor to the New York Times, says essentially the same 
thing. I just want to quote a couple of sections.
  He says, ``The theory of the Republican bill is that competition 
among private insurance providers would somehow lead to lower costs. In 
fact, the almost certain result would be an embarrassing fiasco because 
the subsidy would have few, if any, takers. The trouble with drug 
insurance from a private insurer's point of view is that some people 
have much higher drug expenses than the average, while others have 
expenses that are much lower,

[[Page 10541]]

and both sets of people know who they are. This means that any company 
that tries to offer drug insurance will find that it tries to offer a 
plan whose premiums reflect average drug costs. The only takers will be 
those who have above-average drug costs.''
  What Krugman is saying here and what others are saying is that no 
insurance company is going to provide this insurance, because the only 
person that would take it would be someone who has extremely high drug 
costs, and they cannot operate an insurance system that way. I do not 
want to get into all the details, but the bottom line is that we are 
getting this uniform chorus around the country telling us that the 
Republican proposal to simply provide money to private insurers will 
not work.
  What are the Republicans going to do? They know this is not going to 
work. They are going to try to shove it down the throats of the 
Congress in committee tomorrow or the next day, and bring it to the 
floor next week. They know it will not work, so what they are doing is 
use the pharmaceutical drug companies to spend millions of dollars on 
advertising to say it is a good proposal, and it is not.

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