[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 15815]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     MEDICARE PART D DOUGHNUT HOLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, nearly 3 years, ago I voted against 
Medicare part D, and after the leadership held the vote open for 3 
hours, it did pass.
  Since that day, part D has never failed to disappoint its supporters 
and its detractors.
  First, we learned that part D would cost almost twice as much as 
Congress was originally told. Next came the confusing enrollment 
process. So many seniors had no place to turn.
  In New York seniors had 46 plans to choose from. Seniors recruited 
their children and grandchildren and their Congress people to help them 
navigate the confusing on-line application process, but they had 
problems figuring out which plan was the right plan for them.
  While hosting town hall meetings on part D last year, I encountered 
many seniors who were thinking about not even enrolling in a plan 
because the process was just too confusing.
  Today, many seniors are locked into plans that offer too little or 
too much coverage. Part D's faults are compounded by the fact that 
seniors were locked into their plans for a year. But providers could 
drop certain drugs from their plans without consequences.
  Finally, after months of confusion, seniors are finally getting some 
relief on prescription drugs. But not as much as they could be. 
Medicare still isn't allowed to negotiate prices with drug companies 
like the VA can. And seniors can't reimport drugs from Canada to reduce 
costs either.
  But part D's biggest problem is about to emerge. Many seniors are 
about to discover the plan's doughnut hole.
  Mr. Speaker, the doughnut hole most people didn't understand, but it 
is the gap in the coverage that part D enrollees face when they 
purchase $2,250 worth of prescription drugs in a year. Once seniors hit 
the doughnut hole, they will have to pay for their next $3,100 worth of 
prescription drugs. Only after paying that money will their coverage 
continue. The saddest part of the doughnut hole is that a great many of 
the seniors aren't even aware that it exists.
  We thought, in my district anyhow, that it would be late August 
before people would start reaching the doughnut hole. Unfortunately, in 
my area, we are getting the phone calls now. And since Medicare isn't 
allowed to negotiate with drug companies, seniors will pay the usual 
inflated prices for their drugs while they struggle to come out of the 
doughnut hole.
  So soon many seniors will be back in the same predicament they were 
before part D. Some will have to decide whether to pay their bills or 
purchase prescription drugs. Others will put their health at risk by 
reducing their dosage in order to afford their medication. And many 
will have to spend their way out of the doughnut hole every year for 
the rest of their life.
  The doughnut hole isn't just the result of bad legislation, it is a 
threat to our public health. Seniors will take less drugs than they are 
prescribed to avoid falling into the doughnut hole.
  Part D penalizes seniors who take a lot of medication. Seniors 
essentially get fined over $3,000 for buying prescription drugs they 
need. It is absolutely absurd.
  It is time to fix part D. It is time for a prescription drug plan 
that puts the interests of our seniors and the disabled before the 
interests of big drug companies.
  Mr. Speaker, let's start listening to the seniors who attend part D 
town hall meetings on Long Island and across the country, instead of 
drug lobbyists.
  In the next few weeks, thousands of seniors will be getting an 
unexpected bill for more than $3,000 for Medicare. Let's fix part D.
  It is time for a simple, affordable and guaranteed prescription drug 
plan for our seniors. Part D has caused nothing but headaches for 
seniors since Day 1. And now it threatens to penalize them for taking 
their medication.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a shame that we couldn't have worked bipartisanly, 
because I actually do think that we could have solved this problem by 
working together. Unfortunately, politics got in the way of policy.
  I was hoping, as I held my seminars in my district, I did not come 
out and say anything negative. I said, I am here to help you get 
through it. It is the law of the land, and I will continue to do that. 
But to put our seniors through this is wrong.
  We should come up with a better idea. We should fix Medicare. We 
should make it easier for our seniors.

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