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Medicare Rx Benefit and Discount Act June 13, 2002 Medicare is, without question, the greatest social program of our time. Seniors and the disabled who rely on Medicare, however, are facing a new challenge: they are struggling to afford the often outrageous cost of their prescription medicines. Those who rely the most on prescription medication are the ones who are forced to pay the full price out-of-pocket because their insurance, Medicare, does not cover it. This problem isn’t going away. In fact, the longer we wait to act, the more severe the problem becomes. Members of Congress don’t have to worry about prescription drugs; our senior citizens shouldn’t either. We need to give seniors and the disabled a prescription drug benefit that is at least as good as what Members of Congress get. Our legislation, the Medicare Rx Benefit and Discount Act, guarantees senior citizens and individuals with disabilities comprehensive prescription drug coverage. First, our legislation guarantees senior citizens and individuals with disabilities better prices on their medicines. We don’t need "price controls" to accomplish that; we can do just fine using negotiation and market forces. Second, our legislation guarantees a real Medicare drug benefit that doesn’t stop providing coverage part-way through the year. Seniors don’t want complicated gimmicks, they want dependable coverage. Our legislation, the Medicare Rx Benefit and Discount Act, gives seniors and the disabled a Medicare benefit that’s comprehensive, not complicated. Under our plan beneficiaries pay: a $25 premium and a $100 deductible. Then Medicare pays 80% of the cost of each prescription and the senior pays 20%. Once a senior spends $2,000 out-of-pocket on drugs, Medicare provides full coverage for the cost of his or her prescriptions. Third, our bill guarantees a drug benefit that people can count on. Under our bill, every beneficiary who chooses to participate in the drug benefit will be guaranteed that Medicare will pay something for every single one of their prescriptions. In addition, under the Democratic bill, every Medicare beneficiary, whether in Detroit or Mackinaw Island, Buffalo or Topeka, will be able to count on the same dependable Medicare coverage every year, just like they do today. Fourth, our bill guarantees that seniors and the disabled continue to have choice in their health care. Beneficiaries won’t be forced to join private insurance plans in order to get prescription drug coverage. And your doctor -- not a private insurance company -- will determine what medicine is right for you. Naysayers will argue that we cannot afford these guarantees to the seniors and disabled. That is not true. We have the resources to provide quality drug coverage in Medicare. In 2012 alone, the Republican tax cut would cost $229 billion, which is more than three times the amount that the Republican’s bill would provide for a Medicare drug benefit in that year. Nor do we need to privatize Medicare in order to provide drug coverage; this is a sure route to disaster. Private insurance companies wouldn’t cover the elderly and disabled in 1965, that’s why we enacted Medicare in the first place. The only way privatization proposals -- "vouchers" -- save Medicare money is to raise costs to the elderly and disabled who want to stay in Medicare fee-for-service. That’s no solution -- that’s a problem. Senior citizens and individuals with disabilities deserve no less than what we all get as Members of Congress. They deserve prescription drug coverage that is as dependable as their health care coverage in Medicare today -- and that’s just what they will get under the Medicare Rx Benefit and Discount Act. We can make this happen, but it’s a matter of priorities. And the Democrats’ priority is to fight for an affordable, dependable prescription drug benefit for our Nation’s seniors and disabled.
- 30 - (Contact: Courtney Johnson, 202-225-3641) | |
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