    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [April 26, 2000]
    [Pages 777-778]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Legislation
    April 26, 2000

        The President Thank you very much. Thank you. I am on my way to
    North Carolina for another leg of our new markets tour to close the
    digital divide. But before I leave, I want to say a few words about an
    important study that Senator Daschle,
    Congressman Gephardt, and I have just
    been briefed on regarding the growing cost of prescription drugs and the
    burden these costs are placing on seniors and on disabled Americans.
        The study is from Families USA. It is a careful and compelling piece
    of work. And I thank Families USA President Ron Pollack for providing it and for being here with us today.
        For over a year now, I have been arguing that we as a nation ought
    to use this historic moment of strength and prosperity to meet our long-
    term challenges, especially the challenge of helping all our seniors
    afford prescription drugs that can lengthen and enrich their lives. More
    than three in five American seniors today lack affordable and dependable
    prescription drug coverage. Today's report shows that the burden on
    these seniors is getting worse.
        According to the report, the price of the prescription drugs most
    often used by seniors has risen at double the rate of inflation for 6
    years now, including this past year. The burden of these rapidly rising
    prices falls hardest on seniors who lack drug coverage because they
    don't receive the benefits of price discounts that most insurers
    negotiate. Indeed, the gap between

    [[Page 778]]

    drug prices for people with insurance versus those without insurance
    nearly doubled from 8 to 15 percent between 1996 and 1999. Seniors
    living on fixed incomes simply can't cope with these kinds of price
    increases forever. That's why we should take action to help them, and do
    it now.
        In my budget, I propose a comprehensive plan to provide a
    prescription drug benefit that is optional, affordable, and accessible
    for all, a plan based on price competition, not price controls; a plan
    that will boost seniors' bargaining power to get the best prices
    possible; a plan that is part of an overall effort to strengthen and
    modernize Medicare so we will never have to ask our children to shoulder
    our burden when the baby boom generation retires.
        I'm gratified to see growing bipartisan support for adding a
    prescription drug benefit to Medicare. But earlier this month leaders in
    the House put forth the outlines of a plan that has as a stated goal,
    providing access to affordable coverage for all seniors. It's good if we
    agree on the goal. Unfortunately, the plan they propose won't achieve
    the goal. Instead, it would subsidize insurance companies to offer
    prescription-drug-only policies for middle income seniors, for policies
    the insurance industry itself has already said it will not offer. And
    because the plan would provide direct premium support only to low income
    seniors and disabled Americans, it would do nothing for those seniors
    with modest middle class incomes between $15,000 and $50,000. Nearly
    half of all the Medicare beneficiaries who lack prescription drug
    coverage fall into this category. For them, rising drug prices are
    eating away at financial independence.
        For example, according to this new report, a widow taking medication
    for diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol who lives on $16,700 a
    year must spend about $2,000 a year, or 14 percent of income, on these
    drugs. That's not unusual. And for a nation that cares about seniors,
    it's not acceptable. A person like that should be covered in our
    initiative.
        The majority's plan also is a phantom as long as the leadership
    insists on moving forward with a budget resolution that would spend
    every dime of the surplus, and then some, over the next 10 years on tax
    cuts. If the irresponsible and unrealized--realistic spending cuts this
    budget calls for don't materialize, the tax cut will make it impossible
    to pay down the debt. It would leave nothing left for a prescription
    drug benefit. Any prescription drug plan that is not adequately financed
    is not available, in fact, is not affordable to all, and therefore, is
    not a real plan at all.
        The balanced budget I have proposed would provide a voluntary
    benefit for all seniors, with plenty left over to pay down the debt,
    lengthen the life of Social Security and Medicare, and increase
    investments in education, as well as finance a responsible tax cut. It
    provides a prescription drug benefit that all seniors can afford in a
    way America can afford.
        I'm encouraged by the progress we've made on this issue. Now both
    parties have come to support the idea of adding voluntary prescription
    drug benefits to Medicare. Both parties have agreed to the principle
    that the benefits should be available and affordable to all Americans.
    There's no reason we can't come to an agreement on the details of how to
    provide it. Fundamentally, again, as with so many of the things we deal
    with here in Washington, this should not be a Republican or a Democratic
    partisan issue. It should be an American issue.
        I want to thank Senator Daschle and
    Representative Gephardt for their
    support and their leadership on this issue, and I'd like to ask them now
    to say a few words, beginning with our leader in the House, Mr.
    Gephardt.

    [At this point, Representative Richard A. Gephardt and Senator Thomas A. Daschle made brief remarks.]

        The President. Thank you very much. Before I close, I would just
    like to ask all of you to join me in expressing our appreciation to Ron
    Pollack and Families USA. They've been
    there on these issues year-in and year-out. I don't think they get as
    much acknowledgement as they deserve. But this is further evidence that
    the proposal we have is right for America, from a source that everybody
    can trust.
        Thank you, Ron.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:55 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House, prior to his departure for Whiteville, NC. The transcript
    released by the Office of the Press Secretary also included the remarks
    of Representative Gephardt and Senator Daschle.