Leahy Joins President and Congressional Allies In Proposing New Medicare Benefit To Cover Prescription Drugs 74,000 Vermont seniors and 12,000 disabled Vermonters rely on Medicare

May 10, 2000

WASHINGTON (Wed., May 10) -- Sen. Patrick Leahy today joined President Clinton and other Democrats from the House and Senate at a White House Rose Garden gathering to announce a major new proposal to add a voluntary prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program.

Senate and House Democrats introduced the new bill today, which is called the Medicare Expansion for Needed Drugs (MEND) Act. Leahy is an original cosponsor of the bill in the Senate.

The President called on Congress to enact a Medicare prescription drug benefit along the lines of the new bill, which is intended to be affordable, dependable, voluntary and available for all beneficiaries. The MEND Act allows beneficiaries to opt into the prescription drug benefit by paying premiums, which would cover half the cost of the program. The benefit would cover 50 percent of discounted drug costs up to $5000 per beneficiary, when fully phased in. The bill introduced Wednesday would begin the new benefits on January 1, 2002.

Leahy released the following statement after the White House ceremony:

"This is a key step toward making prescription drugs affordable to the more than 74,000 Vermont seniors and 12,000 disabled Vermonters who rely on Medicare for their health insurance. Prescription drug coverage is a critical need today, and it will become even more important in the next few years as our senior population in Vermont almost doubles to 138,000 in 2025. Vermont’s seniors today have limited drug coverage options. Some can rely on their retiree health insurance. Others purchase Medigap supplemental health insurance, which is costly. The average monthly Medigap premium in Vermont is about $155, and that is out of reach for many people. The rest of our senior Vermonters -- many of them on limited incomes -- often have to struggle to make ends meet. Forcing people to choose between taking vital medicine or buying food for the dinner table is wrong, and we can do something about it. The MEND Act does, by offering people an affordable coverage option, and by offering it to ALL Medicare beneficiaries."