Political Quotes

“I rise to respond to criticisms raised about the availability and cost of drugs under the Democratic proposal. The minority leader has distributed a memo in which he cites selected provisions of our bill to come to a false conclusion about the access seniors would have to prescription drugs. I want to set the record straight. Under the Democratic proposal, all medically necessary drugs would be available to our seniors at a rate of no more than $40 per prescription for the year 2005--all medically necessary drugs, not just the drugs that are on the preferred list. The sections of the amendment Senator Lott chose to omit make clear that every senior would have access to any drug that is medically necessary for that senior. Seniors are further protected because the Medicare Program would assure that the definition of a class of drugs is clinically appropriate. To the contrary, the Republican bill allows the drug HMOs to define the classes of drugs and, further, on page 32 of their amendment, clarifies that not all drugs within a class would have to be covered. Senator Lott may want to take a closer look at the Republican language given his concerns in this area. Under the Democratic proposal, seniors will know in advance exactly how much they will pay for any drug. In 2005, they will never pay more than $10 for a generic and $40 for a medically necessary brand name drug.”