Statement of Representative Mike Doyle House Consideration of Medicare "Reform" Bill

It's an outrage that the Republicans want to privatize Medicare, and that they're holding a Medicare prescription drug benefit hostage to their privatization scheme. The only people this bill truly helps are the drug companies.

This is just the latest effort of the Republicans in Congress to get rid of Medicare's guaranteed benefit and replace it with a voucher for private health plans. America's seniors desperately need a prescription drug benefit under Medicare, but this bill undermines the whole Medicare program - and that's simply too high a price to pay.

To add insult to injury, the bill doesn't even provide seniors with much help in paying for their medicine - especially seniors in Pennsylvania, many of whom already get prescription drug assistance through PACE and PACENET.

I won't dismantle Medicare as we now know it - and I certainly won't trade Medicare's traditional guaranteed benefit for vouchers and an anemic prescription drug benefit. This bill must be defeated, and we need to go back and put together a serious plan.

The Medicare bill being considered by the House today is a complete victory for the pharmaceutical industry. There are no cost controls for prescription drugs in this bill, even though prescription drug costs are going up by double-digits every year. This bill prohibits Medicare from negotiating with drug companies for lower drug prices. It effectively kills reimportation of cheaper drugs from Canada. The only cost controls the Republicans put in this bill are the ones that force senior citizens to pay more out of their own pockets. If Congress doesn't impose cost controls on the drug manufacturers - but we impose caps on Medicare spending - then we're guaranteeing annual cuts in Medicare benefits and increased costs for Medicare beneficiaries.

This bill is especially bad for Pennsylvania's seniors because it does nothing for seniors with incomes of $20,000 or less. They already get more help from PACE and PACENET. The seniors with incomes of more than $20,000 get some help under this bill, but certainly not enough to justify dismantling Medicare.

Moreover, in Pennsylvania, thousands of retirees could well lose their employer-provided prescription drug coverage if the companies, which are desperately looking for ways to cut their costs, conclude that they can eliminate their prescription drug benefits and let their retirees get their medicine through Medicare.

Finally, low-incomes seniors on both Medicare and Medicaid - the so-called dual-eligible seniors - may be even worse off under this bill than they are now. Nearly 6 million of them could end up paying more for their drugs - not less.

Taken as a whole, this bill is a bad deal for America's senior citizens, and I will oppose it. We should be working to lighten the burden of health care for retirees living on fixed incomes - not increasing it. I support a more comprehensive, affordable Medicare prescription drug benefit for seniors. If we can create enough opposition to this bill, we can force the House and Senate to go back to the drawing board and draft a better Medicare prescription drug bill.

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