Apr 4, 2006- Medicare Prescription Drug Program

HON. MARCY KAPTUR
 OF OHIO
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2006

Clickhere to view Rep. Kaptur's floor statement
watch video

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to address the confusing newMedicare Prescription Drug Program, in light of yesterday's visit to my Ohio congressionaldistrict by Bush administration Health and Human Services Director MichaelLeavitt. Yesterday, Monday, April 3, Secretary Leavitt arrived hours late in ablue bus after people had waited and waited in very cold weather. He spent onlya few minutes, shook the hands of a couple of staff people, and spoke brieflywith only two hand-picked seniors, and, by the way, spoke to them in front ofthe news cameras, before making his prepared remarks to the press.

To the one senior that had a chance to ask the Secretary a question,explaining that they could not afford their medicines, he towed theadministration line saying, ``This is a good program that helps a lot ofpeople.''

When asked by one senior about the program not covering his wife'smedication needs, incredibly, the Secretary answered in the same way, and thiswas to the one person, ``This is a good program that helps a lot of people.''

Now, the Secretary had his picture taken. It was on the front page of ournewspaper, but of the 79 people in the room, he shook hands with only two,spoke to only one and left. I guess he is doing this all over the country.

The Secretary says, yeah, this program has had a few bumps in the road. Itis a new program but we fixed them. No, Mr. Secretary, you have not fixed themand they are more than bumps in the road. The one thing that is guaranteed isthat the pharmaceutical companies are making billions.

Here are a couple of comments that have come from consumers and seniors inmy district. A husband and wife team says they take five prescriptions each.Under their old plan they had a 20 percent co-pay, but by this summer they willhave reached the $2,250 cap. And the new drug plan is a farce and an insult toseniors of this country because now they are going to have to pay the amountsbeyond that and they ask, ``Is there anyone that cares or is listening in Washington?''

Another husband wrote, ``It is costing my wife and me more per monthfor the new Medicare coverage premium. The only way we have any coverageis to purchase an insurance policy from a private insurance company. On top ofthat there are the ridiculous amounts that Medicare has set that won't coverany meds until we reach some huge amount in the thousands of dollars. My wifeinformed me today she is going off her psychiatric medicine. We used to receivepatient assistance directly from the drug manufacturers through a clinic and wecan no longer receive the drug samples or any patient assistance. We cannotafford to purchase our meds, Congresswoman. Isn't it wonderful how the Bushgovernment has helped us?''

Another senior writes they find that their medical costs increase at everyturn in the road. They currently pay nearly $6,000 annually for prescriptionsof which insurance pays $600. ``For the first four months of the year,'' thissenior says, ``I have to pay $5 for generic drugs, $18 for preferred drugs,with a cap of $35 for the brand name drugs. But under this new plan that willincrease to $10, $25 and $50. And believe it or not, of the eight prescriptiondrugs I need, only two are on the preferred list for $25 each and the rest willeach cost $50 each. Congresswoman, please do your part in righting thiswrong.''

Health professionals have been writing to us. Another senior wrote us,``When I went to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription I brought $20 with mebecause that is what I always paid. I couldn't believe it when the pharmacistsaid I had to pay $260. I had to leave the pharmacy without medicine. It wasembarrassing. How am I going to afford $260 a month? I just don't have it. Iguess the people who are for this plan want us to die.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight not just to outline problems with the program,because they are significant, but also to place in the RECORD what wecan do to fix it. First of all, to let the government negotiate the prices thatseniors have to pay with these pharmaceutical companies. They can't stand up tothese big companies. We need to extend the deadline this year so that they cantry to get qualified for the program, but there is so much confusion out there.Why should there be a May deadline? We ought to cushion that.

We ought to standardize plans like we did for Medicare part B so there isonly 10 standard plans and people know what is in them. We ought to ban thegifts that these pharmaceutical companies are giving to people as lures inorder to try to sign them up for these inadequate programs.

We ought to disclose coverage gaps. Companies which do not offer gapcoverage should be required to make that fact known in writing.

We ought to disclose plan changes. It should be stated clearly that acompany might drop a drug from coverage. We ought to create uniform ID numbers,simplify the application, expand extra help eligibility, and require broadformularies.

There are many other ways to fix this program, Mr. Speaker, but we surelyshould not put that burden on our seniors.