Phil Gingrey: “I would just like to say I thank the gentleman, and I think the seniors are very fortunate, whether Mark Kennedy is…”

“I would just like to say I thank the gentleman, and I think the seniors are very fortunate, whether Mark Kennedy is serving in this United States House of Representatives or representing them in the other body soon as a senator in the United States Senate. They are indeed fortunate to have his compassion and caring attitude, and I commend him for that. Mr. Speaker, I think what I would like to do here for a minute is sort of frame this problem, before we delivered on this prescription drug benefit, to make sure that our colleagues and anybody within shouting or listening distance might possibly be watching our proceedings tonight, did they understand the situation that existed before we delivered on this promise of a prescription drug benefit part D under the Medicare program. Where were the seniors getting their prescription drug coverage before this plan? Well, this first slide, Mr. Speaker, I want to make sure that my colleagues can see this. There were a number of people. This is about 26 percent, an estimate of seniors that had employment-based plans. We talked about that. We have talked about the fact that people worked 25, 30 years for a company, and part of their retirement benefit may be a little pension hopefully and a little health care benefit, in many cases to include a prescription drug coverage.…”