Lloyd Bentsen: “later this week the Republican leadership will bring to the floor a bill purporting to be a new prescription drug…”

“later this week the Republican leadership will bring to the floor a bill purporting to be a new prescription drug benefit for America's senior citizens. In reality, it is a bill which is fatally flawed, providing a political fig leaf for Republicans while providing false hope to the senior citizens we all represent who are feeling increasingly pinched by ever rising prescription drug costs. Mr. Speaker, the Republican bill fails both in its structure and its scope, and it as well as any plausible alternative as proposed by Democrats is subject to an artificial monetary constraint imposed by the Republicans in their budget resolution which is both disingenuous and hypocritical. In their desire to do anything but create a real prescription drug benefit under Medicare, the Republicans' Rx proposal creates a Rube Goldberg structure that involves subsidizing insurance companies to do what they do not want to do while creating a new government bureaucracy in Medicare. The Republican plan is modeled after the Medicare Choice structure of enticing private insurers to take over the administration and delivery of benefits in lieu of Medicare for a profit. It pays insurers to create a prescription drug plan, but, while it limits the coverage, it does not limit the premiums that can be charged to senior citizens.”