[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9235]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           GIVE SENIORS THE HEALTH CARE BENEFITS THEY DESERVE

  (Mrs. JONES of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning, after having 
listened to Washington Journal, wherein the head of the Medicare-
Medicaid program said, seniors are now, in fact, in a program with this 
discount drug card where they can pool their resources and get lower 
prices for their drugs.
  If that is what we are doing with the discount drug card, why, in 
fact, did the legislation itself not allow the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services to seek best prices on prescription drugs for seniors?
  I say, as we talk about covering the uninsured this week, we ought to 
be covering our seniors. They ought to have a prescription drug benefit 
that gives them one card without all of this complication where they 
have to ruffle through cards, ruffle through the Internet when they do 
not even have access to be able to determine what is the best way for 
them to get their prescription drugs.
  Cover seniors. Give them the benefit they have worked for; give them 
the benefit they deserve.

                          ____________________