News Conference - Prescription Drugs

HEADLINE: JOSEPH LIEBERMAN HOLDS NEWS CONFERENCE ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
SPEAKER:
JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
LOCATION: WASHINGTON, D.C.

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LIEBERMAN: Thank you. This didn't used to happen when I came to meetings at the Hill.

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Thank you dear friends.

LIEBERMAN: I must say, standing here on this beautiful day in front of the Capitol dome, the symbol of our democracy, this promise of our freedom, and our opportunity, standing here with Dick Gephardt and Tom Daschle and so many dear friends and colleagues from the Congress, I can only say what I've said before: Is America a great country, or what?

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Over the past two months I have had my faith in the blessings of this great country reaffirmed in countless ways. But standing here this morning, one of the things I'm so thankful for is that we have people of vision and the courage and the compassion of Dick Gephardt and Tom Daschle helping to lead our nation and our Congress into the 21st century.

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Now when I got chosen to take this role—and was honored to do so—by Al Gore, somebody said, "Well, it proves the American dream is alive and well." I want to share with you an American dream that I have this morning, that I can come back here next January with President Al Gore and work with Speaker Dick Gephardt and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to pass a program to advance America's future.

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I'm so glad to have the opportunity to come in off the campaign trail and talk about America's senior citizens and prescription drugs.

And you know, Dick, I have that experience you do. My number-one adviser on senior citizen matters is, bless her heart and soul, my 85- year-old mom. And she's got what has become a fixture of American life—right, friends? -- that pill box, with a section for every day.

And she tells me so often how much it costs her for those drugs. She's not rich, but how fortunate she feels she is to be able to pay for them—she has a Medigap policy, but it doesn't pay very much of it—and how much she cares for those millions of seniors who don't have any coverage or inadequate coverage at best. That's an important issue in this election, and a real clear distinction between these two tickets.

LIEBERMAN: You know, it was 35 years ago in the House and Senate chambers behind us that Congress passed the legislation that created Medicare. And you know that one of the great questions during that debate was: Should Medicare cover all America's senior citizens or should it leave some behind?

In the early part of that Medicare debate, the person who introduced the very first Medicare proposal to pass the United States Senate was the senior Senator from Tennessee, Senator Albert Gore, Senior, and it is no accident that his son is fighting the same battle to extend Medicare today.

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Thirty-five years later we're having exactly the same kind of debate about prescription drugs. And once again, one of the big questions is: Should all senior citizens have prescription drug coverage or should some be left behind?

The answer is that both of these American tickets are giving this year are very different, and the difference is not just casual or political, it's important to the lives of millions of America's senior citizens.

George Bush and Dick Cheney have offered a proposal that will leave behind more than half of all senior citizens who don't have coverage today. But Al Gore and I want to expand Medicare to provide prescription drug coverage for every single senior citizen and person with disability in the United States of America.

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That's the difference. And let's never forget, this isn't just about proposals in the air, this is about real people.

A few weeks ago—and we all have our stories—Al Gore and I were at a town meeting in Portland, Oregon, and a man stood up, looked to me to be in his mid-70s, had a windbreaker on, and I had the feeling that it wasn't easy for him to say what he was about to say, but he briefly told a little bit about his life. He went, as a young man, to serve in the Second World War. He was one of the greatest generation of Americans who saved the world and America from tyranny and genocide.

Then he came home and he got a job and he worked for 40 years at that job, and you had the feeling that this was a man who gave his employers a solid and honest day's work every one of those 40 days.

LIEBERMAN: Then he retired. And he's a good man. And he said that he didn't just want to sit around. So what did he do? He went to work as a volunteer in a veteran's hospital.

And then about a year and a half ago—as happens in life—he had chest pains, went to the doctor—quadruple bypass. It was a success. But when he came out, his doctor prescribed medication to him that he had to take to continue his health well. He said to Al and me that day that that medication cost him almost a third of his annual income. And then he paused and you could feel the difficulty of what he was about to say. But he said to us, "I have never asked my country for anything, but if you don't help me now, I have to choose between buying the medicine my doctor tells me I need to stay alive and going into poverty."

And dear friends, it's been said here, but the reality is that in this greatest country in the world, at the time of our greatest prosperity, no American, and certainly not one who's a member of the greatest generation, should be forced to choose between poverty and getting the medicine his doctor tells him he needs to stay alive. We're not going to allow that. Are we? That's not the America that we believe in.

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And this why it is time we had a prescription drug benefit that covered all seniors and left no one behind.

Now in this campaign, I want to tell you that Al Gore and I have taken a pledge that we're not going to say a negative, personal word about George Bush and Dick Cheney. I think the American people are sick and tired of those kinds of attacks. Apparently, our opponents don't always agree with us, but we're going to stick to our pledge. But we are going to talk about their records, and we are going to talk about their ides, because that's what this campaign is about. We have different visions of America's future, and those differences are important to America's families.

Let me give you an example. George Bush and Dick Cheney say they have a prescription drug plan. But the way it's written, their plan, as Tom said, in the short-term doesn't cover any senior who makes more than $14,600 a year or couples who make more than $19,700. That means that millions of middle-class Americans are going to be left without a prescription drug benefit. And ladies and gentlemen, that's not a real plan. That's a real problem for millions of American's senior citizens.

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LIEBERMAN: Now look at the details of their plan. Governor Bush and Dick Cheney don't want Medicare to provide this coverage. They want to give block grants to the states and let the states decide. But as Tom said, more than half the states don't have prescription drug plans now, and the National Governors Association, which George Bush of course is a member of, has already rejected this approach that he points to as the cure for what ails America's seniors.

No wonder independent analysis indicates that the plan supported by Governor Bush would actually cover less than 700,000 of the currently uninsured seniors, and that's not good enough. That's not a real plan, that's a real problem for millions of America's senior citizens.

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Now you know, our opponents can't convince older Americans that their plan is better. So now they're trying to scare seniors into thinking that our plan is worse.

Before I came to the Senate of the United States, I had the privilege of serving as attorney general of the state of Connecticut. And one of the things I fought against on behalf of the people of my state was attempts to deceive them in the marketplace. Well, I've got to tell you, in the political marketplace of ideas, I think what Bush and Cheney are saying about our Medicare plan is downright deceptive, and I want to set the record straight right now.

Our opponents have claimed that we want to force seniors into what they call a government-run HMO. But you know, there is another name for that government-run HMO, it's called Medicare.

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It's one of the most humane and successful governmental programs ever created. It's changed the lives, extended the lives of America's senior citizens. I'll tell you this, I'll take Medicare's record on providing health care to seniors and citizens over George Bush's record any day of any week.

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Because the fact is that Medicare provides quality health care for more than 97 percent of the senior citizens of America.

LIEBERMAN: And we want to build on that record of success by improving Medicare with a prescription drug benefit for every single senior citizen.

Let me talk about another claim that they offer and make in their campaign. Our opponents claim that we will charge seniors a $600 access fee. But what they don't tell you is that the Bush-Cheney plan, by an independent analysis, would cost at least $1,000 a year. And what do you get for that $1,000? Well, you get the right to go out and beg an HMO to sell you a prescription drug plan, not a clearly defined benefit plan operated by Medicare.

We would cover half of the cost of all prescription drugs up to $5,000 a year, and we'd give every senior catastrophic protection to ensure that no one ever has to pay more than $4,000 out of your pocket if you're very ill. And the lowest-income seniors would pay no premiums and no cost sharing so that no one has to choose in America in the 21st century between buying medicine and buying food.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Bush plan guarantees none of this coverage—and has no courage, incidentally.

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Our opponents leave it to the states and the HMOs to decide. I don't know about you, but something tells me it would cost an awful lot more than $600 if you had to convince an HMO to give you the same coverage we will give you under Medicare.

Our opponents claim that we would force seniors into one plan and provide no choice. But listen to what the New York Times wrote, and I quote: "In making his claim, Mr. Bush has to stretch the facts," end quote.

And The Washington Post wrote, and I quote again, "Bush misrepresents the vice president's drug plan. First, it isn't mandatory. Seniors can opt for drug coverage or not. Second, recipients could remain in traditional choose-your-own-doctor plans. In fact, many analysts say Bush's plan while providing choices would encourage more seniors to join cost-conscious HMOs," end of quote.

And finally, our opponents say that this is a big government solution. But the truth is, we pay for our drug plan as part of balanced budget while paying down our debt. On the other hand, if you add up the price tag of our opponents' massive tax break, which mostly benefits the wealthy Americans, and combine it with their plans for privatizing Social Security, the hard fact is, friends, they have no money left over to pay for prescription drug benefits or anything else.

Unless they're ready to take America back down to the place where they took us once before, to imbalanced budgets, to higher interest rates, to lower growth and higher unemployment. Are we going to let that happen?

AUDIENCE: No.

LIEBERMAN: Absolutely not. In fact, every time I hear George Bush or Dick Cheney make new proposals and say they're going to spend money on them, I have the same response: How are you going to pay for it, Governor? The fact is, he's running around signing a book of blank checks, drawing on an account that his tax cuts have already depleted, and the American people deserve better than that.

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The truth is there's only one plan that provides prescription drug coverage for all of America's seniors, only one plan that provides beneficiaries a real choice, only one plan that ensures high quality care, and only one plan that is actually paid for, and that plan, I'm proud to say in the company of my colleagues here today, is the Democratic plan.

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LIEBERMAN: So I come here today to urge my friends in the House and the Senate: Go forward, stick with it, send a message to the GOP, we will not rest until this Congress votes to give our seniors the prescription drug coverage you deserve.

And America deserves better than a prescription drug plan that will leave more than half of all seniors without coverage. They deserve a plan that covers all Americans and leaves no body behind.

Ladies and gentlemen, with your help and God's help, that is exactly what Al Gore and I and the Democrats in Congress are ready to deliver to you.

Thank you and God bless you.

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