Jay Rockefeller: “I am pleased to be reintroducing a bill with my colleague from Rhode Island, Senator Chafee, to improve the security and…”

“I am pleased to be reintroducing a bill with my colleague from Rhode Island, Senator Chafee, to improve the security and protection of Medicare supplemental policies, so-called MediGap policies. I am especially pleased that Senator Jeffords, both the new chairman of the Labor and Human Resources Committee and one of the newest members of the Finance Committee, Senator Frist, and Senator Collins have joined us this year as original cosponsors of our legislation. And I continue to be pleased that similar legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives by the bipartisan team of Representatives Nancy Johnson and John Dingell. When enacted, our bipartisan, bicameral bill will make MediGap policies more portable, more reliable, and more accessible for almost 40 million Medicare beneficiaries, including 5 million disabled Medicare beneficiaries. Last year, when we introduced this bill, we were not terribly optimistic that it would get enacted before the end of the 104th Congress. But we put forward our legislation anyway to share our proposal and objectives, begin building momentum for changes we feel are necessary, and to preview the fact that we would be back in the 105th Congress with a concerted effort to make this a legislative priority.”