[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10105]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     TIME TO HELP SENIORS FIGURE OUT WHAT BENEFIT IS BEST FOR THEM

  (Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, on the first day that seniors 
could sign up for prescription drug cards, the discount cards, I went 
to the Barelas Senior Center, and I sat down at one of the tables at 
lunchtime and chatted with a little lady and started talking about this 
new card that would be available.
  She said, oh, I already know; I talked to AARP and I already have my 
card. She pulled it out of her wallet and she showed me, and it had the 
Medicare sign on it. She said, I asked the lady and I tried to use it, 
and I did on Saturday, and they let me use it, and I saved $7.
  It is not too hard for people to understand what these prescription 
drug cards will do for them; and when I talked to more people at the 
Barelas Senior Center, they were very interested in the $600 that can 
be added to that debit-like card to help them with the cost of their 
drugs.
  It is time to put aside the bickering and help seniors figure out 
which benefit is the best for them so that they can afford their 
prescription drugs.

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