Frank Pallone: “I am going to just mention one more Republican because I cannot praise them too much here. It is interesting to see that…”

“I am going to just mention one more Republican because I cannot praise them too much here. It is interesting to see that some are standing up to their leadership. This one is the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Peterson) who said he absolutely would vote against the measure unless more money is included for rural hospitals. He said once pharmacy is a part of Medicare, there will be no extra cash any more. What he is referencing is the problem for rural areas because, as the gentleman knows, just like with the HMOs that do not offer, do not have benefits, we do not have HMOs in a lot of rural areas, the same problem will exist here because you do not have a guaranteed Medicare benefit. It is unlikely in a lot of rural areas there would be any kind of private drug policy offered, which is what the Republicans are saying. The concern is that rural areas will be left out, and there will be no insurance policies for them to buy.”