Jay Rockefeller: “the argument made by the Senator from Pennsylvania is interesting because what he is basically saying is that it is more…”

“the argument made by the Senator from Pennsylvania is interesting because what he is basically saying is that it is more important that corporate America not be allowed to keep one out of three of their people they currently sponsor, who are retirees who worked for them and who have been getting health benefits from them, out of the picture. He talked about the cost to corporate America. My sort of worry is about the cost to the U.S. Government. That is what we do if we don't pass my amendment; we just dump everything on the U.S. Government. So this amendment will make sure we do not jeopardize the drug coverage of millions of retirees, one out of every three, who already receive drug coverage from employer-sponsored plans. This amendment is going to ensure that the contributions made on the beneficiaries' behalf by their former employers count toward that beneficiary meeting the catastrophic limit. That is not now the case. Employer-sponsored retiree health benefits are the single greatest source of coverage for retirees--the single greatest source of retiree health benefits available. In fact, 37 percent of all retirees who have corporate-sponsored plans simply lose them if this does not pass.”