Stephen Miller: “I am proud to tell America's seniors who have been waiting in line for a long time that, finally, they have reached the…”

“I am proud to tell America's seniors who have been waiting in line for a long time that, finally, they have reached the front of the line. Their time has come. This Senate is ready to take action on prescription drugs. Our action cannot come soon enough. Most of our elderly in this country are not wealthy. Many live on fixed incomes. They are the ones who are hurt first and hurt most by rising health care costs. Our elderly have been waiting a long time. Waiting for Congress to do something. Waiting for Congress to help them with the skyrocketing costs of their prescription drugs. Our bill provides an affordable prescription drug benefit under Medicare for all seniors for the first time. Coverage begins with the first prescription filled because there is no deductible. For the roughly 12 million seniors in this country who earn less than $11,900 a year, there is no premium and no copayment. For our neediest seniors, our bill gives them their medicine for free. For those who earn more, our plan has an affordable a $25 monthly premium and a copayment of $10 for generic drugs and $40 for brand-name drugs. Also, our bill has no gap in coverage and an out-of-pocket maximum of $4,000 a year. We realize it is a huge, complex and complicated undertaking. And that is why this bill provides that in 2011, we will come back and re-evaluate this program, just like we do with other complicated legislation. We believe that is the wise and judicious thing to do.”