Medicare

From the moment I was elected to represent the citizens of Southeast Texas, improving access to affordable, quality health care has been one of my biggest priorities.  I have also worked with my colleagues in Congress to provide our seniors with a real, Medicare prescription drug benefit that will help America's seniors.  Southeast Texas seniors have been telling me that access to prescription drugs can mean the difference between life and death, between years of pain and struggle and a secure retirement. We cannot afford to play political football with the prescription drug issue.

This is why I have supported legislation that improves the Medicare prescription drug law by amending Medicare to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers that may be charged to prescription drug plan sponsors for covered part D drugs. 

An October 2006 report from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform found that if Medicare had the ability to negotiate drug prices just 25 percent lower, the government would save more than $60 billion over the next decade.  These savings will be used to improve the benefit and strengthen the program’s fiscal health, while lowering costs for beneficiaries. 

Central to access to quality healthcare is addressing the needs of the millions of uninsured Americans, strengthening the Medicare system through a fair and meaningful prescription drug benefit, and giving patients the clout to challenge the decisions of health insurers. Only through action on these critical issues can we meet the pressing health care concerns of our nation.