Stephanie Herseth Sandlin: “it is the old bait and switch. The Republican leadership has used smoke and mirrors to trick seniors into thinking they…”

“it is the old bait and switch. The Republican leadership has used smoke and mirrors to trick seniors into thinking they are getting a Medicare prescription drug plan when in reality they are forcing them to seek medication from private insurance companies, not Medicare. Mr. Speaker, this is not an entitlement Medicare plan for seniors. All this is is an entitlement to ask to be able to make an offer, to make a purchase from a reluctant, profit-seeking insurance company who may or may not accept that offer. Importantly, not a single insurance company in the United States of America has volunteered or agreed to take part in this program, not one, nada, zip, zilch. This plan is nothing more than a mere vapor. What has history shown us about what happens when private insurance companies get involved in Medicare? Medicare+Choice, the great managed care experiment on our Nation's seniors, should have been named Medicare Minus Choice. After all, it has been a total disaster for seniors. Between 1998 and 2003 the number of Medicare+Choice plans dropped by more than half. In my home State of Texas, 313,000 Medicare+Choice seniors have been dropped by insurance companies just since 1999. Question: Who sets the price of the drugs in the Republican insurance company plan? The Republican insurance company plan allows HMOs and pharmaceutical companies to determine how much to charge and what coverage to offer.”