Frank Lautenberg: “I say to our friend from Iowa, the discount card allows somewhere between 10 and up to 25 percent. With seniors spending…”

“I say to our friend from Iowa, the discount card allows somewhere between 10 and up to 25 percent. With seniors spending an average $2,300 a year on medication, even a 20-percent discount does not provide nearly enough relief. Frankly, it is hard to understand why it has to take 2 rac{1}{2} years to get the program into place. I rather suspect it has less to do with the perfection of the program than it has to do with some other cause. It cannot take that long. We have all of these seniors on record. They are medical enrollees now. Why can't we get this going? As a matter of fact, my colleague from Minnesota, who is going to say something, thinks it should be done in an even shorter period of time than my amendment provides.”