Henry Waxman: “The bill the Republican leadership in this House has insisted on bringing to the floor today is a sham. It purports to…”

“The bill the Republican leadership in this House has insisted on bringing to the floor today is a sham. It purports to provide drugs for the Medicare population. It does not. It purports to give seniors peace of mind that their drug costs will be covered. It does not. It claims to cover the drugs they need, and it does not do that. Instead, it would allow insurance companies to establish restrictive formularies and use that as a barrier in the way of patients getting medically necessary drugs if those drugs are not on the formularies. It would not assure that Medicare beneficiaries could get their drugs from their neighborhood drugstore. It would not assure that coverage was available in every area of the country. Seniors in rural areas would be particularly likely to find no coverage is available to them. What does the Republican bill do if it does not spend money to give seniors a drug benefit? It gives money to America's insurance companies. It tries to bribe them into offering an insurance policy that covers just drugs. The companies say they cannot cover just drugs. It will not be affordable, and it will not be available. Evidently, our Republican colleagues still regret that we passed Medicare.”