Part D - How Did This Happen?

As the problems with Medicare Part D continue to unfold, more and more people are wondering how our Congress could have voted for this flawed legislation. Louise Slaughter, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, from New York, gave her view of how this happened in the June 1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Slaughter says, "The political process used to pass Part D was the worst abuse of the legislative process I have seen during my 20 years in Congress." Not too surprisingly, she puts the blame on a few powerful Republican leaders. When the bill was being drafted in 2003, both Democratic and Republican Representatives wrote 59 amendments and all but one of which where rejected by the House Committee on Rules (of which Slaughter is a ranking member) rejected, preventing debate in Congress. One of these amendments would have allowed Medicare to negotiate lower drug costs and another would have allowed enrollees to import drugs from Canada.

According to Slaughter when it came time to combine the House and Senate versions of the bill, senior Republicans not only kept much of the process secret but also excluded Democrats on the conference committee. Lobbyists from pharmaceutical companies were invited in and they, as well as health insurance lobbyists, influenced the final version of this legislation.

Members of the House were given less one day to read the 850 page bill before it was brought up for a vote at 3:00 a.m. This process was a violation of House rules. All the Democratic Representatives and 22 Republicans voted against the legislation on the first vote. Votes are usually give 15 minutes to pass or fail but this one was held open for a record three hours. During this time tactics were used that also violated House rules. The House Ethics Committee later admonished Tom Delay (R-Tex.) and Candice Miller (R-Mich.) for attempting to bribe Nick Smith (R-Mich.) to obtain his vote. When there was a narrow margin in favor of the bill at 5:35 a.m., the vote was brought to a close and the legislation passed.

Slaughter quotes Representative Bill Thomas (R-Cal.) as saying that the goal of the bill was to "end Medicare as we know it." She goes on to add that the bill will give the drug industry an increase of $139 billion in profit over the next eight years. Some of this money comes out of the pockets of states, which are required to partially fund Part D. This means that American tax dollars are subsidizing insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies.

If you have an opinion about Part D, NeedyMeds recommends that you tell the people elected to represent you. Click HERE to learn how to contact your Representative and Click HERE to find your Senators.

Created June 6, 2006