Maurice Hinchey: “very few people are surprised that as soon as the Republican Party has control of both Houses of the Congress and the…”

“very few people are surprised that as soon as the Republican Party has control of both Houses of the Congress and the White House they move to destroy Medicare, and that is what this bill essentially will do. It will drive Medicare into the ground. The disguise that they seek to use in order to accomplish that is a prescription drug program, but just today the National Center on Policy Analysis told us that only $1 out of every $16 in this bill will be spent to provide drugs for senior citizens who would not otherwise get them. Most of the rest of the money goes to drug companies and to insurance companies. But the thing that surprises me about this bill is the Republican party is engaging in price fixing. They fixed the price of drugs so that they cannot go down, they can only go up. They have made sure that we cannot import drugs from Canada or other places at a cheaper price, and they guarantee that every time the prices change it will go up. Price fixing, increasing the cost of drugs.”