Glenn English: “if we can set aside for a moment the hot bipartisan rhetoric, today the House has an opportunity to take a historic step…”

“if we can set aside for a moment the hot bipartisan rhetoric, today the House has an opportunity to take a historic step to ensure that no senior will ever have to face the choice again between destitution and neglecting their prescriptions. The House bipartisan prescription drug plan is a balanced, market-oriented approach targeted to updating Medicare and providing prescription coverage, more generous coverage as it happens than what the President has originally proposed. For my district, the plan does some very important things. It takes vital steps toward improving Medicare as a whole. It expedites the appeals process by mandating Medicare appeals. They used to take an average of 400 days now it takes less than a quarter of that time. Our plan is the only one that addresses the problems in Medicare+Choice, particularly a problem in portions of my district, where plans are raising rates or cutting benefits. Under our bipartisan bill, we move the prescription drug benefit of Medicare+Choice out from under the cold shadow of the Health Care Financing Administration that has haunted the program, instead we create the Medicare Benefit Administration to safeguard prescription drug plans and negotiate lower prescription prices for seniors. Mr. Speaker, today the House takes a historic step to ensure that no senior will ever have to face the choice between destitution and prescription drugs.”