[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12500]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               NEW MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BILL WORKS

  (Mr. BONNER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BONNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to make a simple observation 
based on large part from the results of two town meetings we had in my 
district last week, one in Fairhope and one in Mobile: The new Medicare 
prescription drug law that we passed and which has been enacted is 
working.
  Since the changes to the Medicare program began to take effect on 
June 1, millions of Americans have taken advantage of the toll-free 
Medicare helpline as well as the Internet web site. In fact, during the 
first 4 days of May, 1.6 million men and women, nearly 10 times the 
normal call volume, called that helpline for further information. 
During the same time period, 7 million people visited the Medicare web 
site.
  After just 2 weeks of competition between the drug manufacturers of 
this country, prices on name brand drugs have dropped nearly 12 
percent, and the cost for generics have dropped nearly 13 percent.
  Some would have us believe that the new and improved Medicare program 
is not working, that it will be too costly and seniors will not take 
the time to show interest in this. The facts speak just the opposite.

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