More Choices, Better Benefits Under Medicare

Thank you, Tammy, for the kind introduction (Tammy Lytle, president of the National Press Club and bureau chief for the Orlando Sentinel.)

After 35 years in government, I thought I had experienced everything imaginable when giving a speech. I've had the sound system squeal…the microphone go down…a cell phone go off…and I've been heckled and protested….

But I experienced a first during my scheduled Press Club appearance on Sept. 18 - I was blown off the stage. Hurricane Isabel hit and wiped out my speech.

When I was in Wisconsin, they always warned me that there was a lot of hot air out here in Washington….but I never imagined it would blow hard enough to cancel a Press Club speech.

I am thankful for the effort that Tammy, Bill McCarren and the National Press Club made to bring this lunch about on such short notice. We asked to reschedule my appearance just three days ago once there was a Medicare agreement, and I thank all of you for taking the time to attend.

I appreciate that you recognize the importance of this issue and the historic moment before us. Never have we been this close to modernizing and strengthening Medicare with a prescription drug benefit than we are today. And frankly, we may never get this close again, at least anytime in the near future.

So I come here today to encourage the members of Congress - of both houses and of both parties - to put seniors first and pass the bipartisan Medicare agreement before you. And I encourage all seniors and Americans to make their support known as well, for you will be the benefactors.

Forty million seniors stand ready to benefit from access to modern medicine delivered in a modern way, if we have the courage to act.

President Bush put forth a bold vision for Medicare. The President's leadership put Medicare modernization at the top of Washington's agenda and gave Congress the impetus to take on this challenge.

The House and Senate each passed good pieces of legislation. Congressional conferees worked tirelessly for three months to reach agreement on a tremendously complex piece of legislation, and I represented the administration at the table the entire way. The conferees made the legislation better. In fact, I want to publicly recognize Chairman Thomas, Chairman Grassley, Chairman Tauzin, Senators Baucus, Breaux, Nickles, Kyl and Hatch and Representatives DeLay, Johnson and Bilirakis for their remarkable work moving such a hard issue forward. And I thank Speaker Hastert and Sen. Frist for their steadfast leadership in getting this agreement done.

Now, we, as the nation's leaders who were sent to Washington to get things done, need to finish the job and finally make better benefits and more choices available to seniors.

Seniors cannot afford for Congress to fail now, when we're so close. And we in Washington cannot afford to let seniors down by walking away from a $400 billion investment in improved health care.

Now, I understand that this bill does not give everyone everything they want. Medicare is such a complex program that it would be impossible to fully please everyone.

But this is a very good bill that makes the most significant improvement in health care for seniors since Medicare was created on July 30, 1965. That is a fact. Seniors will be better off than they are today when it comes to Medicare.

And I am sure that is why this legislation is gaining more momentum and support, as more people look at the details and weigh the alternative of doing nothing. In fact, it has earned the support of A-A-R-P.

This organization of 35 million members knows that this plan makes significant improvements for seniors and their health care. As AARP leader Bill Novelli said, seniors can't afford to wait for perfect. None of us can.

As a quick aside, I want to say that the intimidation tactics, cruel rhetoric and personal attacks that some partisans are making against AARP are completely out of line. The tactics represent the lowest of low in American politics. To the seniors of AARP: You know that you're heading in the right direction when the critics can't challenge the merits of your vision but instead resort to personal attacks. Because of AARP's courage and hard work, 40 million seniors are on the verge of better benefits and more choices in their health care.

Here are five powerful reasons why American seniors need this legislation and why Congress must act.

First, prescription drug coverage.

This legislation provides seniors with real and meaningful savings on prescription drugs.

It provides a discount drug card that could save seniors 10-25 percent on their retail drug purchases. We'll make it available in the spring, providing immediate help.

And, in 2006, this package would give seniors a 75 percent subsidy on their drug purchases, paying just a 25 percent co-pay. This would be up to $2,250 in spending. And if their out-of-pocket expenses exceed $3,600, seniors would pay only 5 percent or less.

These savings are in exchange for an affordable $35 monthly premium and $250 deductible.

Most importantly, this prescription drug package would give the most help to those who can least afford to pay.

Low-income seniors would pay no deductible, no premium, and a co-pay as low as $1 for generics and $3 for brand products. And low-income seniors would receive an additional $600 on their discount drug card to help them with purchases.

Now, let me put this in real dollars for you….

A senior who takes a common cholesterol-lowering drug like Lipitor currently pays about $108.65 a month for 30 pills. After the discounted price and subsidy, the senior would now only pay $21.73 a month. And a low-income senior would pay only $4.35 a month. Again, these are real and substantial savings.

Overall, a senior who pays $800 a month for their prescription drugs would see their drug spending cut by 61 percent - or $5,868 a year. A senior who spends $400 a month, would see costs cut 50 percent or $2,404 a year. All in exchange for a $35 monthly premium.

Think of what a senior on a fixed income could do with an extra $5,000 or $2,000 in their pocket a year.

With this legislation, seniors will be cutting their bills … not their pills.

It's hard to imagine anyone wanting to deny seniors these savings.

Second, this legislation provides seniors with more choices in their health care.

We know seniors value choice. The ability to choose the doctor and hospital they want, when they want and where they want. This package gives them the same types of options and choices as members of Congress and federal employees, allowing seniors to design health coverage to best meet their needs.

Seniors would be able to choose to stay in traditional Medicare and still get prescription drug help. They could choose a stronger Medicare-sponsored managed care program. Or they could choose a new Medicare-approved private plan, or PPO, similar to what most Americans in the marketplace have now - including federal employees.

These choices give seniors more power to determine their health care.

Third, preventive health benefits.

This legislation takes a substantial step toward bringing balance to the Medicare system, by investing in disease prevention rather than waiting for people to get sick. It makes no sense that Medicare currently pays for thousands of dollars in hospital care to treat an ulcer, but doesn't cover the medicine that would prevent the ulcer. This legislation changes that dynamic.

We want to give all new beneficiaries an initial "Welcome to Medicare" physical examination to make an assessment of their health and then chart a course for continued good health as well as better disease management.

And Medicare would cover preventive services such as vaccinations, mammograms, various cancer screenings, diabetes screenings and diabetes self-management tools, glaucoma and cardiovascular screenings.

With this legislation, we start bringing more common sense to our health care system by working to keep people healthy in the first place.

Fourth, rural America.

A prominent feature of this plan is the improvement in access to health care for rural seniors. The plan enhances rural access to health care services and improves payments to physicians, hospitals, ambulance companies, labs, hospices and home health agencies.

The improved health care provider payments will help keep quality health care professionals working in rural areas and make health care more affordable to rural seniors.

It brings funding for rural health care toward equal footing with urban America. And coming from a rural state myself, I can say this provision is reason in itself for lawmakers to support this bill. It helps seniors, hospitals, health care workers and home health agencies in every state.

Fifth, health savings accounts.

This provision would allow Americans to put their money in tax-advantaged savings accounts that can be used to pay for medical expenses for themselves, their spouses or their dependents.

These flexible and portable accounts give seniors an attractive means to pay for their health care costs when they retire. It's an important feature that makes this package stronger and more complete.

So there you have it - five powerful ways that we are making Medicare stronger.

And, it is all voluntary. Seniors can choose to take advantage of these new benefits and savings, or they can keep exactly what they have today. It's their choice. And it is this range of choice that President Bush wants to make a cornerstone of a modern Medicare system.

Now, we need to deliver. In the next few days, members of Congress will either seize the opportunity to make history or once again let an historic opportunity pass by.

It's a bill that Republicans and Democrats alike can support. The fact this bipartisan legislation has received the editorial endorsements of the more liberal New York Times and the more conservative Washington Times shows this bill strikes a good balance. There's more than enough in here for everyone.

We need to focus on the many great things that are in this legislation and resist being distracted by the few things that aren't. To those who still want more, that opportunity will not exist unless we first take this giant step forward.

I often compare our Medicare efforts to the reform of welfare. We successfully transformed welfare because we knew that effective reform comes in steps. We went forward with bold initiatives, proved that they worked, and then made it even better.

So let's put in place these improvements to Medicare. Let's make them work. Then we can do even more.

Let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good. Or we will risk becoming the enemy of our good seniors.

This is not a Republican bill. It is not a Democratic bill. It is a bill for America's seniors and we owe it to them to get the job done.

President Bush wants to give seniors access to modern medicine. Congress needs to pass this bipartisan agreement. Our seniors have waited long enough.

Last Revised: November 20, 2003

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