Motion to Instruct Conferees- Medicare/Prescription Drug Bill Transcript: Congressional Record July 14, 2003

Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this motion instructs conferees to do two simple things, two things that the House-passed bill does not accomplish. One, it asks them to provide a guaranteed prescription drug benefit for all our seniors. Number two, it asks them to preserve Medicare as we know it today.

Specifically, this motion instructs the House not to abandon seniors to the mercy of private insurance and pharmaceutical companies. It makes a promise to our seniors. It tells them that if private insurance companies cannot make enough money off them, they can still get a prescription drug benefit.

Mr. Speaker, without this provision, the odds of seniors in my district getting a prescription drug benefit under this bill are virtually slim to none. How do I know this? For years now, private insurance companies have had an opportunity to try and make money off the seniors in my district by offering them a Medicare+Choice benefit. And how many have decided it is worth their while? Only a few.

I know the people in my district, the people of the Appalachian Mountains, of the Cumberland Plateau and southern middle Tennessee, are not alone, the people who live in Byrdstown or in Tracy City or in Kelso or in Hohenwald in our district. Already, private HMOs have abandoned over 2 million seniors.

The second part of this motion is about nothing less than preserving Medicare, a program millions of seniors have come to expect and to trust. Under the House-passed bill, Medicare as we know it will cease to exist in 7 short years, in 2010. Instead of Medicare, seniors will get a voucher for their health care and told to go shopping and will be forced to beg insurance companies and HMOs to offer prescription drug coverage to them, a request that many insurance companies are already on record as saying that they will not be able to fulfill. HMOs will compete against Medicare for younger, healthier seniors, while jacking up the prices for seniors who have chronic conditions and are in need of more care. These ``left behind'' seniors will have no choice but to remain in traditional Medicare which will be starved of funds, unable to compete with insurance companies and HMOs, and thus will be forced to raise seniors' premiums.

Privatization of Medicare will break up the huge and successful risk pool that Medicare has provided. With only the sickest patients enrolled, Medicare's costs will rise until it costs more than the voucher allotment. Medicare will be forced to price itself out of existence.

Make no mistake. That is exactly the point. During the debate on the bill, here is what was said: "To those who say the bill would end Medicare as we know it, our answer is: We certainly hope so. Old-fashioned Medicare isn't very good."

Well, I disagree and I have talked to many seniors in Tennessee who disagree as well. Medicare in the past 38 years has been very good to millions of seniors, but it should be even better. It should include a prescription drug benefit that is guaranteed, that is affordable, and that is accessible to all seniors. Our seniors deserve it, and we in this House Chamber should demand it.