Frank Lautenberg: “I want to now discuss my concerns about the ads we are seeing regarding the new Medicare drug discount card. I think the…”

“I want to now discuss my concerns about the ads we are seeing regarding the new Medicare drug discount card. I think the ads are misleading, and I am getting a lot of inquiries from people at home about is this good for me or not. I think there is a fundamental mistrust about whether this is an idea whose time ought not yet come, because the citizens are saying it is starting in 2006, and this is obviously a lead-in to that. I think it can be described as a placeholder. The card became available yesterday, but the administration is keeping seniors in the dark about the real benefits and weaknesses of the program. They have produced a television commercial that is hyping the card and are spending $18 billion to show it across the country. In this ad, there is a group of seniors in line at a pharmacy and the announcer says: 'Good news for those with Medicare. You can get savings on prescriptions.' They do it in the right mellifluous tone, just for those on Medicare. That is really all the announcer says about the card--'good news . . . you can get savings.' That's it--all hype and no substance. The television ad is almost a cruel joke on our Nation's seniors. Instead of providing real, needed information about the drug card, the administration has launched a PR campaign to boost the image of the card. HHS should have spent less time focusing on hype and more time providing seniors with critical information about the card program.”