Congressman’s Bill Lowers Drug Costs and Guarantees Benefit

BALTIMORE – U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin today unveiled his legislation to correct "serious structural problems contained in HR 1" – the Medicare prescription drug bill that passed Congress and was signed into law by President Bush in December 2003. The prescription drug benefit contained in HR 1 does not take effect until January 2006.

"Under the guise of giving seniors a drug benefit, HR 1 will weaken traditional Medicare and give private insurance companies huge subsidies without providing seniors with a guaranteed benefit that they can depend on. We still have time to correct the structural problems in HR 1 before seniors begin to be effected," said Rep. Cardin.

Rep. Cardin’s Preserving Medicare for All Act of 2004, HR 3702, will lower prescription drug costs by allowing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to use the purchasing power of 40 million Medicare beneficiaries to negotiate lower drug costs with pharmaceutical manufacturers. It also will provide a guaranteed, universally available drug benefit option through Medicare, end discrimination against employer retiree plans, repeal the competition provisions that will threaten traditional Medicare, eliminate excess payments to private health plans and repeal the expenditures cap that will result in harsh cuts to Medicare providers and patients.

The Medicare prescription bill that was enacted into law in 2003 specifically prohibits the government from negotiating lower drug costs for seniors. It also jeopardizes the benefits of nearly three million retirees who now have drug coverage and lacks a guaranteed prescription drug benefit nationwide. Under the pretext of offering "choice" to seniors and encouraging free market competition, HR 1 gives an unfair advantage to private health plans, an advantage that over time will threaten the guarantee of Medicare as we now know it.

"For nearly 40 years, Medicare has provided seniors with guaranteed health care. I am a long-time supporter of adding a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program. We need to ensure that seniors get the medicines they need without jeopardizing a program that has done an excellent job of providing them with access to medical care."

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