[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10841]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      THE MEDICARE MODERNIZATION AND PRESCRIPTION DRUG ACT OF 2002

  (Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of the 
Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug Act of 2002. This bill is 
important and overdue for our seniors.
  An article in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune says that prescription 
drug prices in Minnesota are among the Nation's highest. For 
Minnesotans, and indeed for all Americans, we need to pass a 
prescription drug coverage bill now.
  Yesterday Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson released 
a study showing that our plan would save seniors more money than our 
friends on the other side of the aisle's proposal. Our plan would give 
seniors immediately a 30 percent discount off the top on their overall 
drug costs, and, combined with traditional front-loaded insurance 
coverage, it would reduce the cost of prescriptions by half for the 
average senior.
  But, in addition, we provide catastrophic coverage so that seniors do 
not have to deplete a lifetime of savings in order to be able to afford 
life-giving prescriptions, and we give 100 percent prescription drug 
coverage for low-income seniors, and give more Medicare and senior 
choices.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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