Rick Allen: “I wanted to come back for a moment and talk about one part of the Bush plan that was announced yesterday or the day…”

“I wanted to come back for a moment and talk about one part of the Bush plan that was announced yesterday or the day before and that strikes me as completely unrealistic. What he is saying is we are going to provide $48 billion over 4 years in terms of grants to the States in order to provide immediate relief for seniors who need help. The fact is that the people who are suffering the most are not necessarily those with the lowest income. They are the people with the highest prescription drug cost. I was talking to a man up in Waterville not so long ago, Waterville, Maine, who had owned his own garage, his own auto repair business, he and his wife were now retired but they were not quite 65 and they had a little bit of coverage for their prescription drugs that they would lose when they hit 65. His wife's expenses and his together were already running at $1,000 a month. He was terrified as to what would happen to him when he hit 65, he lost his coverage, there is no coverage under Medicare and he knew he would be in great trouble.”