Volume 6, Issue 32, August 7, 2006

Staight Talk With Sam

Check-up Time

Two and a half years ago, Congress delivered on a promise to the American people by sweeping Medicare reform, including a comprehensive Medicare prescription drug benefit to give America’s seniors access to affordable prescription drugs. Now that the program is off the ground, the evidence is in and we have much to celebrate: the Medicare prescription drug benefit is working, and seniors are saving money. Over 90 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries now have drug coverage. That’s 38 million seniors!

Before Congress passed this measure, Medicare had changed little since its creation in the 1960s. The program brought a 20th century attitude to 21st century medicine, funding expensive operations but failing to fund prescription drugs. Medicare would pay for your operation to install a pacemaker after a heart attack, but it wouldn’t pay for the heart medicine that might have prevented the heart attack in the first place. This was simply not fair.

The reforms we made that took effect on January 1st of this year changed all this. Millions of seniors are now saving money on their prescriptions. And there is more good news. Competition is reducing the cost of the benefit for both the seniors and for taxpayers. We originally expected premiums to be $37 a month, but competition among the plans has reduced average premiums to just $24 a month!

The Medicare prescription drug benefit represents the most significant modernization to any public health program in our nation’s history. Seniors signed up in droves and are saving a lot of money as a result. The best part are the stories that I’ve heard from countless seniors and their families in Northwest Missouri who finally have the piece of mind that they can get the medicines they need to improve their quality of life. When millions of America’s seniors go from having little or no access to prescription drug coverage, to having the choice to select affordable coverage that best meets their needs, we all have much to celebrate.