Xavier Becerra: “What American seniors want is a real plan, a plan that is defined, a plan that is dependable and guaranteed with regard…”

“What American seniors want is a real plan, a plan that is defined, a plan that is dependable and guaranteed with regard to the benefit for prescription drugs, and a plan that fits within Medicare. Does H.R. 4680 provide any of those things? No, it does not. H.R. 4680 puts $40 billion in the hands of the insurance industry and HMOs and says, you now go out and offer in the private sector an insurance policy that right now they are not willing to do, because they do not like to offer insurance plans for prescription drugs to seniors because it costs too much. So by giving them $40 billion, we are giving them a bone saying, okay, you get $40 billion to offset some of those costs. Come on, this is your incentive. Go offer plans in the private sector for folks to buy. This puts nothing in the hands of seniors except a charade. It is giving them a coupon and saying, go out and see if you can find something now for that coupon. Medicare guarantees a right to a doctor, it guarantees a right to a hospital. It should guarantee a right to prescription drugs. Vote against this bill.”