Frank Pallone: “I have listened to the rhetoric of the Republicans this evening, and it is cynical. They are trying to fool the seniors.…”

“I have listened to the rhetoric of the Republicans this evening, and it is cynical. They are trying to fool the seniors. I listened to the gentleman from Louisiana say that seniors are going to have a choice. They are not going to have any choice. They are going to lose their choice of doctors because they are going to be forced into an HMO. I listened to the gentleman from Florida say that seniors are going to get a meaningful benefit. Again they are fooling the seniors. There is no meaningful benefit here. They are going to have to shell out more out of pocket than they are going to get back in terms of a drug benefit. I listened to the gentlewoman from Connecticut earlier saying that she is going to give the seniors a discount. What a joke that is. There is no cost containment in this bill. The bill says that the Secretary cannot in any way negotiate price reductions. There is no reimportation in this bill. There is no way you are even going to be able to get discount drugs from other countries. There is no discount. There is no savings. They are just trying to fool the seniors. I heard another speaker say that Medicare is going broke. The only reason it is going broke is because you have taken money away from their trust fund through your tax policies. You are trying to fool the seniors again.”