Political Quotes

“I understand we are only about 5 days away from the deadline for people to sign up for Medicare prescription Part D. I know the Senator has joined me and others in suggesting this program could have been done differently, a lot fairer, a lot simpler, could have more competition so that seniors would have had even lower drug prices. Sadly, major parts of it were written by the pharmaceutical industry and by the insurance industry. I know the Senator from Florida has spoken to many seniors, as I have, and knows that as they have tried to understand the program and sign up for it, some of them have been overwhelmed. In Illinois, there are over 45 different programs from which to choose. I talked to pharmacists, who are a good source of information, who tell me the seniors come in, throw up their hands, and say: What are we supposed to do? I ask the Senator from Florida, when you reflect on the fact that there are some 35.8 million Medicare beneficiaries who have drug coverage, according to the administration, isn't it true that 70 percent of those people--more than 26 million--already had prescription drug coverage before this program was underway? And of the 16 million who previously did not have coverage, about 10 million or so have signed up. So we still have about 6 million of the 16 we were trying to sign up for drug coverage--sounds to me like a substantial percentage, 6 million--who have not signed up at this point, about 40 percent. They are facing a penalty.…”