Thomas Daschle: “Well, there is not only one, there are four moving targets. The first moving target, as the Senator suggests, is the…”

“Well, there is not only one, there are four moving targets. The first moving target, as the Senator suggests, is the premium. It is suggested it be $35 a month, but there is no guarantee. It could be $100. It could be $20. No one knows. They will not know until they are able to determine just what it is going to take to bring a benefit to a given region. That is only the first. The suggested deductible is $275. There is no guarantee. Nobody knows whether it is going to be $500 or $100. There is no guarantee on the copay. It is supposed to be 50/50. It could be 70/30. There is no guarantee on the so-called initial cap on benefits, or the benefit loss at some point, whenever that kicks in. It could be $4,500. It could be different. That is the benefit cap beyond which one has to pay all of the costs of a prescription drug. So there are those four variables. As the Senator suggests, more clarity and certainty in this legislation would go a long way to eliminating a lot of the anxiety seniors have about this.”