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News Release

Secretary Thompson Urges Senate To Approve Medicare Bill

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson on Sunday urged the United States Senate to come together in a bipartisan manner to pass Medicare legislation that will give America's seniors a prescription drug benefit, better benefits and more choices in the kind of health care they receive.

"We are one step from the most significant improvement to the health care of seniors in 40 years," Secretary Thompson said. "We can either take that step forward and deliver for America's seniors. Or we can take that step backward and once again deny seniors affordable access to the modern medicine that the rest of America enjoys."

Secretary Thompson presented five reasons for the Senate to approve the legislation, approved Saturday by the House:

Prescription Drug Benefit

In 2006, seniors currently without drug coverage and monthly drug spending of $800 would see their spending cut by 61 percent, or $5,868. Seniors who spend $400 a month would save 50 percent, or $2,404. Additionally, seniors would get a discount drug card next spring providing 10 to 25 percent savings on purchases. Low-income seniors would get an additional $600 credit on this card.

"For the first time, we will provide a prescription drug benefit under Medicare - an integral part of delivering modern medicine in a modern way," Secretary Thompson said. "Thanks to this legislation, seniors will be cutting their bills in half -- instead of their pills."

A common drug such as Lipitor currently costs seniors about $108.65 a month. After the discounted price and subsidy, seniors would pay only $21.73 a month. Low-income seniors would pay $4.35 a month.

More Choices

Seniors value choice in their doctor, hospital and health care. This plan gives them the same range of choices as members of Congress and federal employees. Seniors can choose to stay in traditional Medicare and get help paying for drugs. They can choose a stronger Medicare-sponsored managed care program. Or they could choose a new Medicare-approved private plan, or PPO, similar to what most Americans in the marketplace have now. These choices are all voluntary; seniors don't have to change a thing if they don't want.

Rural Areas

For the first time, this legislation will equalize payments to hospitals and physicians to ensure that hospitals in rural areas are treated equitably, and enhances rural access to health care services and improves payments to physicians, hospitals, ambulance companies, labs, hospices and home health agencies.

For example, this legislation establishes a standardized payment amount for inpatient hospital services all across America, eliminating the dual payment system that pays less to hospitals in rural and small urban areas; raises a cap on payments for rural and small urban hospitals that provide care to a disproportionate share of low-income and uninsured patients; makes bonus payments for physicians serving in counties underserved by physicians; increases payments to home health agencies by 5 percent for services provided in rural areas; and increases payments to ambulance providers in rural areas, by increasing mileage payments for ambulance trips that originate in certain rural areas.

"This is the first time rural America is being treated fairly on Medicare reimbursement," Secretary Thompson said. "It brings funding for rural health care toward equal footing with urban America. And coming from a rural state myself, I can say this provision is reason in itself for lawmakers to support this bill."

Better Benefits

This legislation takes a substantial step toward bringing balance to the Medicare system, by investing in disease prevention rather than waiting for people to get sick. Under this bill, Medicare will give all new beneficiaries an initial "Welcome to Medicare" physical examination to make an assessment of their health and then chart a course for continued good health as well as better disease management. Medicare also will cover preventive services such as vaccinations, mammograms, various cancer screenings, diabetes screenings and diabetes self-management tools, glaucoma and cardiovascular screenings.

Health Savings Accounts

This provision would allow Americans to put their money in tax-advantaged savings accounts that can be used to pay for medical expenses for themselves, their spouses or their dependents. These flexible and portable accounts give seniors an attractive means to pay for their health care costs when they retire. It's an important feature that makes this package stronger and more complete.

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last Revised: November 24, 2003