Kent Conrad: “let me just take a moment now to respond to Senator Ensign with respect to the amendment he has offered that purports to…”

“let me just take a moment now to respond to Senator Ensign with respect to the amendment he has offered that purports to affect Part D premiums and have higher premiums for those Part D Program participants. Let me just say, the basic concept, I am in sympathy with. The problem is, the budget resolution does not make these policy determinations. This is a determination which is made by the Finance Committee. That is the committee of jurisdiction. They are the ones who have the sole right to make these kinds of policy determinations. The Budget Committee, as much as I might want it to, does not have the authority to do that. Beyond that, the devil is in the details. The notion you can charge higher premiums--certainly there is a way to do that, but the Senator has given us no indication of how it might be done. When the CMS came before the Finance Committee on this very issue--because this is part of the President's budget--they were asked how they would go about charging higher premiums under Part D when the premiums are not set by the Government, they are set by private drug plans. As we all know, there are something like 1,500 Medicare drug plans. Those plans each have a separate premium they establish. So how is it that CMS is going to tell all these private drug plans they are to charge higher premiums to higher income people? Those private drug plans do not even know the income levels of the people who subscribe to their plans.”