Expanding Healthcare Options
for American Families
Americans today are living longer and healthier lives than ever before. The numbers alone are proof of how much our quality of life has improved. In 1940, the average American had a life expectancy of 63 years; today that number is nearing 77.
The medical breakthroughs and innovative drugs that have given us a new outlook on aging are also presenting new challenges to our nation's health care system. Medicare provides health insurance coverage to nearly all of the nation's seniors. Today that means 14 percent of the population. By 2030, almost 22 percent of Americans will be eligible for Medicare coverage. The explosion in Baby Boom retirees is already underway. Now is the time to enact reforms to prepare Medicare for the future and better serve seniors.
A critical component of reform will be the expansion of prescription drug benefits under the Medicare program. While nearly 74 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have some form of prescription drug coverage, they still pay a portion of their drug expenses out-of-pocket. Clearly, seniors are the hardest hit by increasing drug prices.
Congress and the President are committed to passing a prescription drug benefit that is affordable for both taxpayers paying the bills and beneficiaries paying the premiums. All seniors deserve relief from soaring drug costs, and it is absolutely vital that low-income seniors have access to a benefit program. Any reform must also protect the marketplace incentives responsible for encouraging research and development, bringing us new and better life-saving drugs. Together, these priorities will be the basis for a reform bill that delivers help to those in need.
In recent years, the House has taken concrete steps to reform Medicare's prescription drug program, including passage of the Medicine Rx 2000 Act. Unfortunately, this measure failed to win the support of President Clinton and did not become law. Now, working with the President, we have an opportunity to make positive and far-reaching improvements to Medicare.
