Jay Rockefeller: “The first amendment I will offer is to ensure that all Medicare beneficiaries will be eligible for this new drug…”

“The first amendment I will offer is to ensure that all Medicare beneficiaries will be eligible for this new drug benefit, including low-income Medicare beneficiaries who are currently eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. They are known as dual eligibles. The underlying bill precludes Medicare beneficiaries--makes it impossible for Medicare beneficiaries--who are eligible to receive a drug benefit through Medicaid from, in fact, enrolling in the Medicare drug benefit program. This group is referred to as the dual-eligible group. They are the poorest seniors under Medicare. They are below 74 percent of poverty. That is their income level. A disproportionate share of them--to wit, 42 percent--are minorities. Women make up the majority of them all. Many are likely to have a poor education, live alone, and have more than two chronic illnesses. The underlying bill precludes these folks that I have just talked about--these duel-eligible beneficiaries--from receiving the Medicare drug benefit. As a result, this prescription drug benefit is not, in fact, at all a universal bill.”