Nancy L. Johnson: “Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts behind the rhetoric here. What is going to be the impact of this Democratic…”

“Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts behind the rhetoric here. What is going to be the impact of this Democratic substitute on seniors? My colleague from Louisiana just reminded us that 100 percent of employers are going to drop their plans. If there is one thing my senior citizens say to me when I go into senior centers it is, look, help those who need it, but do not destroy my employer-provided retiree plan. Do not touch it. This amendment destroys it, wipes it out. That is not in the interest of your seniors. But let us look at what it will do to premiums. You were concerned that we did not sock a premium into law. Look what you do in your bill. You sock the premium into law and then you have it rise according to drug inflation. Drug inflation is double-digit. Do you not get it? Those premiums are going to rise steeply. Why would you do that to our seniors? And let us look at the effect on prices. There is one thing seniors say to you over and over again, the prices are too high. Yet according to Dr. Holtz-Eakin's testimony of April 9, 2003, he says, 'If you subsidize 90 percent of any insurance product versus 70 percent of the product, the larger subsidy will lead to a lower incentive to control costs and will lead to higher prices and higher spending.' Yours is a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry.”