Karen Thurman: “today we have heard about the 24 million people we supposedly helped last week. Well, let us talk about the 39 million…”

“today we have heard about the 24 million people we supposedly helped last week. Well, let us talk about the 39 million people we could help that are under Medicare. Let me just explain to you that this is a dollars and cents issue for us. We are grappling with the trust fund on Medicare and making sure that the expenses are kept down. Well, there is one way you can do that, and the one way you can do that is to make sure that seniors get their prescription drugs. Let me just give you an example of what somebody wrote to me in my district. "My mom and dad do not have prescription drugs coverage, therefore must pay full price for all of their drugs. Mom has been cutting her cholesterol pill, Zocor, in half, so it will last two months. The pharmacist says they will not be effective and she is endangering her health. The prescription drug went from $80.49 at the beginning of last year to $95.99." What do you think the cost of this is when this woman ends up in the hospital because she cannot take the medicine that is going to keep her healthy? We need to make sure Members are signing this discharge petition so we can have an honest debate on this floor to help the 39 million people, and that number is growing.”