[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10545-10546]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SUPPORT MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Stearns). Pursuant to the order of the 
House of January 23, 2002, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join with all of my 
colleagues and all of the people across America who support a real 
prescription drug program for seniors. I understand the concerns that 
some express for the need to reform Medicare, and I agree. But I 
believe that prescription drug coverage for seniors should be an 
integral part of the Medicare program.
  We are aware that since its creation Medicare has remained stagnant, 
while advances in medicine have grown rapidly. We are aware that even 
our fundamental vision of medicine has dramatically changed from 
diagnosis and treatment to preventive care. Today, due to our 
realization of the need for modification and reform of Medicare, to our 
seniors, which has been an overwhelming process of paperwork with 
worries about reimbursement and regulations, it is not a form of 
security as it was once thought to be. Medicare reform is necessary, 
but the time is now to listen to our seniors and to give them what they 
have been requesting, that we give them financial relief and provide 
them with a prescription drug plan that will actually cut their monthly 
prescription drug expenses. It has been stated on the floor of this 
House a number of times that we have seniors choosing between food and 
drugs, splitting their prescription in half and denying themselves 
other medical care due to the cost of their monthly prescription drug 
costs.
  In fact, seniors are declaring bankruptcy at a record pace due in 
large part to the rising cost of health care. We need a prescription 
drug coverage that covers all seniors. It is not just our poorest 
seniors who are having problems paying for their prescription drugs. It 
is also middle-class seniors who are struggling with the burden of 
outrageous drug costs.
  As Members of Congress, we need to ensure that we provide a Medicare 
prescription drug benefit that is voluntary, universal and accessible. 
No senior should be denied a benefit based on where he or she lives or 
what his or her income is. We see our European neighbors offering their 
seniors drugs at half the cost of what American companies are charging. 
American seniors are being encouraged to travel overseas or across our 
borders to Canada and Mexico just to save money on the same 
prescription drug they can get in the United States. This is outrageous 
and absurd and should shed more light on the importance of why this 
great Nation needs a serious drug plan for seniors.
  Once again we need to let our seniors know that we hear them loud and 
clearly. We need to let our seniors know that we stand firmly behind 
them in the fight to cut their monthly

[[Page 10546]]

drug costs. We cannot let our seniors down again this year. Let us do 
the right thing. Let us enact a real prescription drug program for all 
of our seniors so that they never have to cut back on the basic 
necessity to keep living.

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