Steve Pearce: “Women are the great beneficiaries, and a tremendous number of the people who will participate in this prescription drug…”

“Women are the great beneficiaries, and a tremendous number of the people who will participate in this prescription drug program under Medicare will be women because many of them fall in the lower income strata and many will qualify for the 100 percent coverage throughout the spectrum, but they have been made afraid that they are going to be the ones falling into the gap. The only people who fall under the gap are those who can afford it. Those with the most desperate needs get coverage all the way up and down the spectrum, Mr. Speaker. So that is an important distinction to make. One of the things that we have not yet talked about that the prescription drug bill did, it did three things to kind of give the prescription drug makers a wake-up call. None of us would choke the prescription drug manufacturers down to nothing because they are making magnificent miracle-like drugs that are extending life and extending the quality of life. But we did three things in this bill to really get the attention of the prescription drug manufacturers just a little wake-up call, if the Members would. First of all, we cause generics to come to the market sooner in this bill. Secondly, we give incentives for people who will use the generics to convert usage over from the more expensive prescriptions into the generic field.”