Date: 2003-07-09
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I come tonight to talk about prescription drugs and Medicare. The bill the House passed just 2 weeks ago is simply the first step toward the Republicans goal to. privatize Medicare. They want to do this for a few reasons. but their most important reason for doing this is that. I think. they firmly believe. or I would even say blindly believe. that the private sector and the free market solution is always better than a government one. The free market is an incredible tool. and it has advanced many areas of human endeavor. but for it to work. it must have one important component. and that is the bottom line. or profit. Jly 9. 2003 Without that critical component. the free market system is useless. Medicare was created in 1965 precisely to address the failure of the markets. It was not profitable to treat our seniors with a free market health insurance solution. The market solution to insuring the elderly was simply not to insure them.-because. after all. they get sick too often. and insurance companieswould have to pay. If you want to make money in the medical Insurance game. you insure young. healthy people. not old people. Luckily for Americas seniors. the Democrats controlled Congress. and we set up Medicare. We valued our elders. And even though the markets wanted to leave them behind. we did not. We protected them. and we treated them with the compassion and the dignity they deserved in their old age. So why do the Republicans want to privatize Medicare so badly? Do they not remember what happened before Medicare. when we left the health of our aging parents and grandparents to the free markets? Are they so swept up in their blind faith in the market that they believe somehow it will Just take care of things. even though we already have tried that and we know that it does not work? Taking care of the elderly is not profitable. nor should it be. Profit is not always the most important thing. These are the people who reared us. They are the people who took care of us when we got sick. They are the people that taught us right from wrong. The Republican proposal is a slap in the face to our parents and to our grandparents. Every provision of the Republican bill is designed to be a handout to insurance and prescription drug companies. not to give our seniors a better health care plan. The prescription drug plan laid out is available only through private insurance companies and HMOs. There is no provision. no provision to hold down the prices drug companies can charge. It does not ensure that all seniors will be eligible for this coverage. which has been a hallmark of the Medicare program. And if that was not bad enough. their proposal would increase seniors costs for doctors visits by raising the Part B premium and indexing it to inflation. This provision is included for only one reason. one reason. and that is to move people out of traditional Medicare and to force seniors into managed care plans. into HMOs. Now. I tried to offer a substitute amendment to this bill that would have provided a real prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries. but it was ruled out of order by the Committee on Rules. out of order because they did not like it. at 4:00 in the morning. in the dark of night. only hours before we voted on the bill. My amendment would have provided one simple type of coverage. catastrophic coverage against excessively high drug costs for seniors. There were no premiums. There were no copays. There was no coverage gap. The crux of the plan defined the outpfpocket spending limit to 6 percent of the adjusted gross income of the beneficiary. with any additional costs being picked up by Medicare. My plan provided annual spending targets. which would be guaranteed not to exceed the $400 billion level that President Bush had set. It also called upon the Secretary to encourage the use of prescription drugs and contractual arrangements with pharmacy benefit managers to help control prescription drug costs. This idea of bringing down the coiut of a drug is in sharp contrast to the outrageous. noninterference clause found in the bill that passed this body 2 weeks ago. designed to ensure that drug companies can charge whatever excess price they want for the drugs they choose. It is clear to me and to my Democratic colleagues. and it will become clear to Americas seniors and their families. where the Republicans loyalties lie. The story has been the same since the start of the 100th Congress. From homeland security to education. from veterans benefits to the child tax credit. and now. finally. to health and to the wellbeing of our parents and grandparents. the Republican message is clear: If you are not a powerful corporation. if you do not give money to Republicans. they do not care about you.