Date: 2003-11-21
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise against this socalled Medicare proposal devised by former Speaker Gingrich and the pharmaceutical industry that will increase outofpocket expenses for the poorest and sickest women. Mr. Speaker. the sham Republican prescription drug bill will harm. not help. elderly women. I oppose the Republican Medicare bill because it does not ensure that our seniors. especially our most venerably elderly women. get the long overdue Medicare prescription drug benefit that Is available and affordable to all. How will this Medicare Reform proposal hurt women? First you must realize that women account for the majority of people who are on both Medicare and Medicaid. To make matters worst. the proposal Is hqarmful to the poorest and sickest women because their out of pocket cost would increase above what Medicaid currently allows. I believe we must carefully draft legislation to protect the health and wellbeing of our citizens. It is shameful that many American seniors must regularly make the heartbreaking choice between paying for food and paying for prescription medicine. As a former nurse. I have spend much of my career working to ensure that our nations health care system provides a wide range of affordable services. But unfortunately. drug prices are going up over 3 times the rate of Inflation giving the drug Industry more profits than all othersthe result: seniors cant afford the medicine they need. Yet this proposal would actually prohibit Medicare from getting the best price for seniors. This bill states. and I quote. "(Medicare] may not . . . interfere in any way with negotiations between . . . Medicare Advantage organizations . . . and drug manufacturers . .In laymens term that means Medicare must pay whatever the drug companies want to charge. This makes the new law a multibillion dollar subsidy to the drug industry and a ripoff for Americas senior citizens. This is especially hurtful to women because nearly eight in ten women on Medicare use prescription drugs regularly. Because the bill doesnt allow for the government to negotiate price controls on drugs. our women will have to face higher drug cost. as well as the American Treasury. Democrats have led the fight to add a drug benefit to Medicare. But what started as a fight to add a drug benefit has become a fight to save Medicare as we know it. Over and over again we have demonstrated our willingness to compromise and accept a lessthanperfect drug benefit when they approved a bipartisan Senate bill this summer. But Instead of seeking bipartisanship. Republicans have insisted on including provisions that would turn Medicare into a voucher program and could cap government spending on Medicare. These provisions have nothing to do with providing beneficiaries affordable prescription drugs. They are Intended to undermine Medicare. Medicare was created because the private health care system would not provide affordable health insurance coverage for seniors. We shouldnt be turning back the clock to those times. But thats exactly what the Republican billas writtenwill do. The American public should be outraged that the Republican leadership is playing politics with the health and wellbeing of millions of our citizens. and I hope the voters will remember this shameful abuse of power when they go the polls at election time.