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STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN JOHN D. DINGELL
RANKING MEMBER
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE


FLOOR CONSIDERATION

OF THE CONFERENCE REPORT TO ACCOMPANY

H.R. 1, THE "MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2003"

November 22, 2003

What are the Republicans up to on Medicare? Why have they been so secretive, excluding House Democrats and the public from the conference? Why are they jamming this agreement through the House, before members and the public can know what is in it? And what does this all mean for our senior citizens and those with disabilities?

My Republican colleagues are doing three things. First, they are starting their process of destroying traditional Medicare by setting up grotesquely unfair competition that coerces seniors into HMOs, as well as by concocting a privatization experiment that will force many seniors to pay more to stay out of managed care plans. Second, they are rewarding their managed care friends with billions of dollars more than would be paid to providers under traditional Medicare, rewarding their drug company friends by barring the use of seniors' buying power to bring down the high price of pharmaceuticals, and rewarding all providers by undermining Medicare's ability to control costs to seniors. Third, they are providing a weak prescription drug benefit through their private sector friends to buy off those who are either gullible or desperate.

Republicans know this. That is why their negotiations have excluded House Democrats. That is why we received 681 pages of statutory language 26 minutes before the scheduled conference meeting Thursday. That is why Republicans told us about new language at 1:32 a.m. Friday morning, and rushed to the Rules Committee less than nine hours later. That is why the requirement for members to have three days to look at the report before voting has been tossed aside. That is why Republicans are trying to jam this agreement through the House in the dark of night early Saturday morning.

Senior citizens and individuals with disabilities should beware of so-called improvements promised by the same Republican Party that fought the Medicare program every step of the way. When Republicans promise choice, they mean private plans that take away seniors' ability to choose their family doctor or pharmacist. When Republicans promise competition, they mean throwing enough money at managed care plans to ensure that traditional Medicare withers away. When Republicans promise solvency, they mean removing need-based funding and turning to vouchers, as well as capping overall federal spending on our seniors.

Democrats had a better plan. Democrats proposed an affordable and guaranteed prescription drug benefit under Medicare. Democrats proposed that all Medicare beneficiaries, no matter where they lived or what their income, be eligible for the same basic benefits. Democrats proposed that seniors not be subjected to risky experimentation with the guarantees they have come to rely on. But Republicans have chosen a dramatically different path, one that, left uncorrected, will destroy Medicare as seniors know it and as it has worked so well for so long.

The only good news here is that the choices made in this conference report are not immutable. There will be ample time in the coming months and years for seniors to understand and react to what is being done here. And when they do, it will make the reaction to the catastrophic health care bill, which led to Congress quickly reversing itself, look like a picnic.

I urge my colleagues to reject this misguided and dangerous experiment with the health care of our senior citizens.

 

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(Contact: Jodi Bennett, 202-225-3641)


Prepared by the Committee on Energy and Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515