Issues
Health Care Prescription Drug Program
The Medicare population needs help
with the rising cost of prescription drugs. I supported the
Senate-passed version of the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA).
Unfortunately, the final version of that bill did little to
lower the actual cost of prescription drugs. It keeps Medicare
from negotiating price discounts and effectively prohibits
the importation of prescription drugs, all while undermining
the Medicare program and unnecessarily subsidizing private
health care providers. For these reasons and others, I could
not, in good conscience, vote for the final version of this
bill.
Since the President signed the bill into law on December 8,
2003, too many Medicare beneficiaries in Wisconsin and across
the country have seen firsthand the inadequacy of this law
and the serious problems that have arisen during its implementation.
I have heard from a number of Wisconsinites who found the
prescription drug plan (PDP) enrollment process exceedingly
confusing. Many people had difficulty finding a plan that
would cover their prescriptions, while others could not get
through to Medicare representatives to ask questions about
the enrollment process.
When the prescription drug benefit went into effect on January
1, 2006, many Medicare beneficiaries who had already signed
up for PDPs or who were automatically enrolled in their PDPs
found that their plans did not cover certain medications,
or that their medications would cost more than they could
afford. My staff and I heard accounts of people in Wisconsin
who were unable to fill vital prescriptions for insulin and
transplant medications. Many states, including Wisconsin,
have instituted emergency stop-gap measures to cover prescriptions
for those who are unable to get their needed prescriptions
through Medicare and their PDPs. On January 13, 2006, I joined
other members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation –
Senator Herb Kohl and Representatives Tammy Baldwin, Ron Kind,
Gwen Moore, and David Obey – in sending a letter to
Mark McClellan of the agency in charge of MMA implementation,
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), asking
that he implement an emergency plan to see to the needs of
those who have been unable to get their prescriptions.
Since the President signed the MMA into law on December 8,
2003, I have worked to fix some of the other major flaws in
the law. I am an original cosponsor of S.
239, the Medicare Enhancements for Needed Drugs (MEND)
Act, which was introduced by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
on February 1, 2005. This bill would allow Medicare to negotiate
lower prescription drug prices while requiring congressional
monitoring of and transparency in Medicare drug pricing. On
January 24, 2005, I introduced S.
123, which would give Medicare authority to negotiate
drug prices, and S.
124, which would eliminate billions of dollars in unnecessary
subsidies to encourage the growth of private Medicare plans.
All of these bills have been referred to the Senate Committee
on Finance.
I am also a strong supporter of S.
2354, the Medicare Prescription Drug Gap Reduction Act,
which was introduced by Senator Ben Nelson (D-FL) on March
2, 2006. This bill would allow Medicare to negotiate lower
prescription drug prices. It would also use the savings from
the lower negotiated drug prices to fill the coverage gap
known as the “doughnut hole.” I have heard from
many Wisconsinites who have hit this coverage gap and are
now having trouble accessing their medications. This is not
how a coverage plan should work, and I will continue to work
to fix this problem
Instead of moving Medicare toward privatization, Congress
needs to go back to the drawing board to enact a meaningful
prescription drug benefit under Medicare that does not undermine
the structure of Medicare itself. Congress also needs to focus
on lowering the price of prescription drugs rather than subsidizing
insurance and pharmaceutical companies. I will continue to
work to make health care, including prescription drugs, more
affordable.
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