Jay Rockefeller: “as the Medicare prescription drug debate draws to a close, I would like to take a few moments to give my colleagues my…”

“as the Medicare prescription drug debate draws to a close, I would like to take a few moments to give my colleagues my honest assessment of this legislation. I join many of my colleagues in recognizing how difficult it has been for the managers of this bill to hold to a proposal that fits within a $400 billion budget constraint. In that respect, they are to be commended for their discipline. But for my part, I believe that constraint, combined with the fervent intent by some to move Medicare to a private insurance model, has produced a bill that is fatally flawed. Seniors will not get the affordable, meaningful prescription drug coverage they expect because the majority of Members seem to have concluded that we cannot break the $400 billion barrier. I think it is a false choice. The actual prescription drug benefit in this bill is inadequate to meet the needs of more than 40 million Medicare beneficiaries and eventually America's seniors are going to figure that out. The fact of the matter is that $400 billion is simply not enough to buy an adequate benefit. But we already knew that--our debates last year made that abundantly clear. I believe that insisting on the capped amount of $400 billion for a Medicare drug benefit as a precondition of moving a new benefit through the legislative process serves as a convenient excuse. It means this drug benefit is sure to fail to meet seniors' real drug coverage needs.”