[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7672-7673]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE DEMOCRATS TRIED ON MEDICARE

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, you can't say the Democrats haven't tried 
their hardest. When it comes to the Medicare prescription drug benefit, 
they have complained, criticized and have held town hall meetings to 
encourage seniors not to sign up. Luckily for America's seniors, they 
have decided to listen to the facts instead of the negative spin.
  Recently the Department of Health and Human Services reported that 
more than 30 million Medicare beneficiaries are now getting coverage 
and saving money on their prescription drugs. This surpasses their 
expectations of 28 to 30 million enrollees in the first year. I suppose 
adding to the Democrats' frustration are recent polls showing broad 
support for the new benefit, as well as amazing success stories of 
seniors who are now reaping big savings in their prescription drug 
costs.
  For example, a recent AARP poll revealed that nearly 8 in 10, that is 
nearly 78 percent of those enrolled in a Medicare prescription drug 
plan, say the new benefit is either meeting or exceeding their 
expectations.

[[Page 7673]]

  Mr. Speaker, perhaps if the Democrats put as much effort into 
encouraging, rather than discouraging seniors, we would have enrolled 
30 million much sooner.

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