Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) gave the following remarks as she joined Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Representatives Schakowsky and Matsui, and representatives from AARP and the Center for Medicare Advocacy to call for the passage of health care reform.
Last night, our Republican colleagues once again showed their true colors when it comes to health care for our seniors and American families.
For hours on end, they voted against motion after motion to protect seniors’ health, shore up the Medicare trust fund, bring down the cost of health insurance, close the donut hole – a donut hole they themselves created in 2003 – and add important preventive benefits for seniors.
Meanwhile, too many seniors are struggling desperately with health care costs. Seniors should not have to skip necessary medical care that could save their lives, or take half a pill instead of a whole pill to save money – yet that is exactly what is happening right now.
Today, we have a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which finds that prices for commonly-used medications in the donut hole have far outpaced inflation since 2006. Actonel, a common osteoporosis treatment, has risen 39 percent since then. Aricept – for Alzheimer’s disease – has risen 41 percent. And Plavix, an important medication for reducing blood clots, has gone up 25 percent.
Our reforms would aid seniors who need these potentially life-saving medications. They close the donut hole in Medicare Part D completely. But if we do nothing – as our Republican colleagues would have us do – that donut hole is projected to increase to $5,755 by 2018.
Our reforms provide immediate relief to seniors. They will reduce the size of the donut hole by $500 right away. And they guarantee 50 percent price discounts on brand-name drugs and biologics, including all the drugs I just mentioned, for low and middle-income beneficiaries in the coverage gap.
Meanwhile, our Republican colleagues have voted again and again, against these benefits for seniors. In the battle for health reform, they stand with the insurance industry.
In November, when the House voted in our health reform bill to close the donut hole and add important preventive benefits to Medicare – the Republicans said no.
In December, when the Senate voted on their bill to provide discounts to seniors in the donut hole, shore up the Medicare trust fund, and help seniors and their doctors take better care of their chronic diseases – Republicans said no.
And last night, when Democrats offered a motion in the Budget Committee to strengthen Medicare by closing the donut hole and expanding access to preventive care, once again, the Republicans said no.
So that is what we are faced with – a choice between the Democratic way of strengthening Medicare, closing the donut hole, and promoting prevention and wellness for seniors; or, the Republican way of dismantling Medicare, turning it into a voucher system, and throwing seniors into an unregulated private market.
I think the American people know which way we should move forward.
