Rob Portman: “there are still some asking why Congress added a prescription drug benefit for seniors under Medicare. The reason is…”

“there are still some asking why Congress added a prescription drug benefit for seniors under Medicare. The reason is simple. Before we passed this law, the Medicare program operated like it was still back in 1965, when surgeries and hospital stays, rather than prescription drugs, were the primary means of treating and managing disease. Today, prescription medications not only treat illness, they can prevent them. Prior to the changes in law, Medicare would pay an average of $5,000 for a person's hospitalization for heart failure, for instance, but not pay the $67 per month for Lipitor which is a cholesterol-lowering drug which can prevent heart failure. This is bad medicine and that is why we needed to add a prescription drug benefit. Mr. Speaker, adding a benefit to Medicare was an important first step for providing seniors with quality and affordable health care. The benefit is entirely voluntary. The senior who does not want to take the benefit, they do not have to. The prescription drug benefit is simple. It provides seniors relief from the high cost of prescription drugs, and it focuses that relief on those who need it most. Those who have low income, 12 million seniors get the benefit for the low-income seniors and those with high drug costs who can benefit from the new catastrophic insurance benefit. Mr. Speaker, the new Medicare law provides seniors a choice and control with their drug plans, and it is good for our seniors.”