[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6687]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION PART D

  (Ms. HART asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. HART. Mr. Speaker, the results are in on the new prescription 
drug program, and they are very encouraging. Nowhere is the success of 
this new prescription drug benefit more apparent than my home State of 
Pennsylvania.
  Take these statistics into consideration. As of April 1, more than 
1.2 million Pennsylvanians have enrolled in the new program. In my 
district alone, 73 percent of Medicare beneficiaries now have 
prescription drug coverage, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 
Services project that that number will be near 100 percent by the end 
of this year.
  With the May 15 enrollment deadline fast approaching, we should be 
doing everything we can to help seniors enroll in the new part D 
program so they can realize the incredible savings the plan offers.
  Take the story about Tom and Dolores from Pittsburgh. Tom and Dolores 
need about a dozen medications, and they feared that they soon would 
not be able to afford these medicines. They were also afraid that they 
would not be able to find a plan in their prescription drug program 
that would cover all the medications that they need as well as their 
costs. With help from their Medicare Today counselor, both Tom and 
Dolores found plans that work for them. They now expect to save over 
$2,000 a year on their costs.
  I encourage any Medicare recipient who is not yet enrolled to seek 
some information from Medicare Today and find out the savings it offers 
through Medicare part D.

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