2002 Ron Paul 63:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, while there is little
debate about the need to update and modernize
the Medicare system to allow seniors to
use Medicare funds for prescription drugs,
there is much debate about the proper means
to achieve this end. However, much of that
debate is phony, since neither H.R. 4954 or
the alternative allow seniors the ability to control
their own health care. Instead both plans
give a large bureaucracy the power to determine
what prescription drugs senior citizens
can receive. The only difference is that alternative
puts seniors under the control of the
federal bureaucy, while H.R. 4954 gives this
power to “private” health maintenance organizations
and insurance companies.
2002 Ron Paul 63:2
I am pleased that the drafters of H.R. 4954
incorporate regulatory relief legislation, which I
have supported in the past, into the bill. This
will help relieve some of the tremendous regulatory
burden imposed on health care providers
by the Federal Government. I am also
pleased that H.R. 4954 contains several good
provisions addressing the Congressionally-created
crisis in rural health and attempting to ensure
that physicians are fairly reimbursed by
the Medicare system.
2002 Ron Paul 63:3
However, Mr. Speaker, at the heart of this
legislation is a fatally flawed plan that will fail
to provide seniors access to the pharmaceuticals
of their choice. H.R. 4954 requires
seniors to enroll in a prescription benefit management
company (PBM), which is the equivalent
of an HMO. Under this plan, the PBM will
have the authority to determine which pharmaceuticals
are available to seniors. Thus, in
order to get any help with their prescription
drug costs, seniors have to relinquish their
ability to choose the type of prescriptions that
meet their own individual needs! The inevitable
result of this process will be rationing, as
PBM bureaucrats attempt to control costs by
reducing the reimbursements paid to pharmacists
to below-market levels (thus causing
pharmacists to refuse to participate in PBM
plans), and restricting the type of pharmacies
seniors may use in the name of “cost effectiveness.”
PBM bureaucrats may even go so
far as to forbid seniors from using their own
money to purchase Medicare-covered pharmaceuticals.
I remind my colleagues that today
the federal government prohibits seniors from
using their own money to obtain health care
services which differ from those “approved” of
by the Medicare bureaucracy!
2002 Ron Paul 63:4
Since H.R. 4954 extends federal subsidies
(and federal regulations) to private insurers,
the effects of this program will be felt even by
those seniors with private insurance. Thus,
H.R. 4954 will in actuality reduce the access
of many seniors to the prescription drugs of
their choice!
2002 Ron Paul 63:5
I must express my disappointment that this
legislation does nothing to reform the government
policies responsible for the skyrocketing
costs of prescription drugs. Congress should
help all Americans by reforming federal patent
laws and FDA policies which provide certain
large pharmaceutical companies a government-
granted monopoly over pharmaceutical
products. Perhaps the most important thing
Congress could do to reduce pharmaceutical
policies is liberalize the regulations surrounding
the reimportation of FDA-approved
pharmaceuticals.
2002 Ron Paul 63:6
As a representative of an area near the
Texas-Mexican border, I often hear from angry
constituents who cannot purchase inexpensive
quality imported pharmaceuticals in their local
drug store. Some of these constituents regularly
travel to Mexico on their own to purchase
pharmaceuticals. It is an outrage that my constituents
are being denied the opportunity to
benefit from a true free market in pharmaceuticals
by their own government.
2002 Ron Paul 63:7
The alternative suffers from the same flaws,
and will have the same (if not worse) negative
consequences for seniors as will H.R. 4954.
The only difference between the two is that
under the alternative, seniors will be denied
the choice for pharmaceuticals by bureaucrats
at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS) rather than by a federally subsidized
PMB bureaucrat.
2002 Ron Paul 63:8
Mr. Speaker, our seniors deserve better
than a “choice” between whether a private-orpublic
sector bureaucrat will control their
health care. Meaningful prescription drug legislation
should be based on the principles of
maximum choice and flexibility for senior citizens.
For example, my H.R. 2268 provides
seniors the ability to use Medicare dollars to
cover the costs of prescription drugs in a manner
that increases seniors’ control over their
own health care.
2002 Ron Paul 63:9
H.R. 2268 removes the numerical limitations
and sunset provisions in the Medicare Medical
Savings Accounts (MSA) program. Medicare
MSAs consist of a special saving account containing
Medicare funds for seniors to use for
their routine medical expenses, including prescription
drug costs. Unlike the plans contained
in H.R. 4504, and the Democratic alternative,
Medicare MSAs allow seniors to use
Medicare funds to obtain the prescription
drugs that fit their unique needs. Medicare
MSAs also allow seniors to use Medicare
funds for other services not available under
traditional Medicare, such as mammograms.
2002 Ron Paul 63:10
Medicare MSAs will also ensure senior access
to a wide variety of health care services
by minimizing the role of the federal bureaucracy.
As many of my colleagues know, an increasing
number of health care providers have
withdrawn from the Medicare program because
of the paperwork burden and constant
interference with their practice by bureaucrats
from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid
Services. The MSA program frees seniors and
providers from this burden, thus making it
more likely that quality providers will remain in
the Medicare program!
2002 Ron Paul 63:11
Mr. Speaker, seniors should not be treated
like children by the federal government and
told what health care services they can and
cannot have. We in Congress have a duty to
preserve and protect the Medicare trust fund.
We must keep the promise to American’s seniors
and working Americans, whose taxes finance
Medicare, that they will have quality
health care in their golden years. However, we
also have a duty to make sure that seniors
can get the health care that suits their needs,
instead of being forced into a cookie cutter
program designed by Washington, DC — based
bureaucrats! Medicare MSAs are a good first
step toward allowing seniors the freedom to
control their own health care.
2002 Ron Paul 63:12
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, both H.R. 4954
and the alternative force seniors to cede control
over what prescription medicines they may
receive. The only difference between them is
that H.R. 4954 gives federally funded HMO
bureaucrats control over seniors prescription
drugs, while the alternative gives government
functionaries the power to tell seniors what
prescription drug they can (and can’t) have.
Congress can, and must, do better for our Nation’s
seniors, by rejecting this command-andcontrol
approach. Instead, Congress should
give seniors the ability to use Medicare funds
to pay for the prescription drugs of their choice
by passing my legislation giving all seniors access
to Medicare Medicaid Savings Accounts.
