Cord Byrd: “before we pat ourselves on the back, pop the champagne bottles, and fan out across America to tell seniors that their…”

“before we pat ourselves on the back, pop the champagne bottles, and fan out across America to tell seniors that their prescription drug worries are now an issue of the past, let's take a closer look at the Medicare proposal before us. The more I read through this Medicare bill, the more I become convinced that history is once more repeating itself. I can recall a painful experience during my majority leadership when an outraged citizenry, composed mostly of seniors, forced Congress to repeal the ill-fated Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act back in 1989. The year before, Congress was engaged in a Medicare debate eerily similar to the one we are having at this time. A bipartisan compromise was reached to make the most sweeping change in Medicare's then 23 years of existence. Congress agreed to two key changes to the Medicare program--a prescription drug benefit and a ``stop-loss'' protection from catastrophic medical bills. Facing deficits as we do today, Congress, in its infinite wisdom, decided that beneficiaries should pay for the new benefits themselves, with the wealthiest paying the most. The new law included a complicated benefit that was too difficult to explain and a lengthy delay in the benefit's taking effect. In the end, seniors saw the bill, were confused as to what they are were getting in exchange, and wanted no part of it. Hence, it was repealed in the next session. We are poised to make the same mistake again.…”