Barbara Lee’s Statement on HHS Secretary Leavitt’s Visit to Oakland to Promote Medicare RX Plan
(Oakland, CA) - Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) issues the following statement today in response to the visit of Secretary of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt’s visit to Oakland to promote enrollment in the Bush administration’s Medicare Prescription Drug program:
“If Secretary Leavitt was really concerned about making sure seniors and people with disabilities have a working prescription drug benefit, he’d be making sure that the White House and the Republican Congress extend the enrollment deadline. There is no reason that anyone should have to pay a seven percent ‘Bush prescription drug tax’ for the rest of their lives because they missed the enrollment deadline on a poorly conceived and confusingly implemented program.
“Without serious fixes, this program will continue to benefit the insurance and pharmaceutical industries more than seniors and people with disabilities.
“For a start, let’s get rid of the Republican’s prohibitions on the government negotiating lower drug prices, as the Veteran's Administration now does successfully, and reimporting less expensive drugs.”
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