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For Immediate Release Contact: Michael Freeman
January 12, 2007 202-452-8700
mfreeman@hlc.org
Statement by Mary R. Grealy, President, Healthcare Leadership
Council on House Passage of H.R. 4
The Medicare prescription drug benefit is one of the most successful, popular and effective federal programs in recent memory. That the House of Representatives would make changing this program one of its highest priorities is perplexing. Today’s action by the House undermines the principles that have improved the health and lives of millions of older and disabled Americans and should not be enacted into law.
This legislation was driven neither by need nor by public outcry. The Medicare Part D program is helping millions of seniors save significant amounts of money. It is extremely popular, with independent polls showing consistently high approval ratings. And it is a rarity among government programs, with cost figures that are coming in substantially under initial projections.
The House bill attacks the foundation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit by substituting increased government intervention for the private sector price negotiations that have reduced costs. This bill places greater trust in the federal bureaucracy than it does in the senior consumers who ensure through their plan choices that the Part D program embodies value, quality and cost efficiency.
The Congressional Budget Office said unequivocally that federal involvement in Medicare drug pricing won’t save any money unless severely limited formularies, like those used by the Veterans Administration, are utilized. The House chose today to disregard this fact. For the sake of millions of seniors whose lives are better today because of an improved Medicare program, let’s hope the U.S. Senate takes a more prudent approach.
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