Lizzie Fletcher: “One of the important pieces of legislation that they have not acted upon is the prescription drug plan. We worked very…”

“One of the important pieces of legislation that they have not acted upon is the prescription drug plan. We worked very hard, our leadership, the Republican leadership, worked very hard to pass a prescription drug plan that would lower the cost of prescription drugs immediately. It would devote about $350 billion to prescription drug coverage as well as enhancing Medicare and ensuring that providers would continue to be accessible to patients. It also was a voluntary coverage. It also guaranteed choice, that seniors would have at least two plans; and, again, it was a guaranteed benefit under Medicare. It would provide immediate savings, and the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the savings would be up to 44 percent for seniors. I know in my State of Kentucky we have about 50 percent of the seniors would have fallen within the range of 175 percent of the poverty level or below, which means that about half of our seniors in Kentucky would have received supplemental help on their premiums, which means that those at 150 percent of the poverty level and below would have virtually paid no out-of-pocket expenses for their prescription drugs.”