The following amendments were offered:
An amendment in the nature of a substitute
by Mr. Tauzin, #1, was adopted, amended
(on June 19, 2003), by a voice vote;
The following amendments were offered to Title
I, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit:
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Dingell, #2, re: Real Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit in
Medicare - the amendment strikes Title I and replaces it with the Democratic plan
that creates an affordable, comprehensive Medicare prescription drug benefit. The benefit
under the Democratic plan is:
- $25 monthly premium
- $100 deductible
- 20% beneficiary co-insurance
- $2,000 stop-loss coverage
Senior citizens and individuals with
disabilities whose incomes are under 150% of poverty will pay no premium or cost-sharing.
Beneficiaries with incomes between 150%-175% of poverty will receive premium
assistance on a sliding scale and pay only nominal cost-sharing. This amendment was defeated
by a yea-nay vote: 25 - 27;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Messrs.
Ferguson and Pallone, #3, re: accounting for a senior's
out-of-pocket expenses and state spending when calculating a senior's catastrophic limit,
was adopted by a voice vote;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Brown, #4, re: beneficiary access to comprehensive coverage
that Members of Congress receive - ensuring that beneficiaries have access to
prescription drug coverage that most closely approximates what most Members of Congress
receive; it would do so by requiring all private drug plans to offer coverage that mirrors
the drug coverage in the most popular Federal plan available to Members of Congress
(currently the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP) Blue Cross Standard Option),
was defeated by a yea-nay vote: 19 - 27;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Terry, #5, to strike Title I (Medicare Prescription Drug
Benefit) and Title II (Medicare Enhance Fee-For-Service and Medicare Advantage; Medicare
Competition, and establish a Medicare "premium support system" beginning in
January 2008, was withdrawn;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Green, #6, re: filling the gap in the proposed prescription drug
benefit coverage of costs between $2,000 and $4,900, providing beneficiaries with 20%
co-insurance, was defeated by a yea-nay vote: 23 - 23;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Burr, #7, re: establishment of Medicare prescription drug
discount card and assistance program for voluntary use until Medicare prescription drug
benefits become available under a new, enacted section 1860D of the Social Security Act
(2006), was adopted by a voice vote;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Pallone, #8, re: authorizing and directing the Secretary of
Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices for all 40 million Medicare
beneficiaries; the Secretary must take into account the goal of promoting the development
of breakthrough drugs (the Republican legislation expressly prohibits the Secretary from
negotiating lower drug prices for seniors participating in Medicare), was defeated
by a yea-nay vote: 18 - 33;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Markey, #9, re: prohibiting private health care insurance plans
that operate discount card programs from using information about beneficiaries gained from
the card to discriminate against sick beneficiaries, was withdrawn;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Waxman, #10, re: elimination of the provision that bars seniors
with more than $4,000 in assets from low income protections under the Prescription Drug
Benefit program, was withdrawn;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Strickland, #11, re: requiring all plans to charge a $35 monthly
premium for the prescription drug benefit (the Republican legislation places no limits on
how much private insurers can charge in monthly premiums for drug coverage), was defeated
by a yea-nay vote: 22 - 28;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Green, #12, re: improving beneficiary access to catastrophic
coverage by allowing dollars spent by others (e.g. medigap, employer coverage, charities,
etc.) to count toward the catastrophic cap (the Republican legislation only allows
out-of-pocket costs actually paid by the beneficiary to count toward this cap), was defeated
by a yea-nay vote: 24 - 30;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Pallone, #13, re: providing a guaranteed defined benefit with a
simple standard policy, was defeated by a yea-nay vote: 24 - 30;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Ms.
Capps, #14, re: requiring Medicare to offer the "standard
benefit" as a guaranteed defined benefit with a uniform national premium, regardless
of private plan presence (the Republican legislation does not provide a guaranteed benefit
to seniors and relies on the voluntary participation of private insurance companies), was defeated
by a yea-nay vote: 23 - 30;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Ms.
Schakowsky, #15, re: elimination of the provision that raises
the catastrophic cap for individuals with more than $60,000 in annual income, was defeated
by a yea-nay vote: 24 -29;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Ms.
Capps, #16, re: providing beneficiaries who have ALS with 20%
co-insurance in the $2,000 to $4,900 gap in coverage in the Republican bill, was defeated
by a yea-nay vote: 22 - 31;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Stupak, #17, re: ensuring that beneficiary premiums do not
increase when the Administrator must provide financial incentives for private plans to
participate in any given area, was defeated by a voice vote;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Engel, #18, re: to repeal recent capital gains tax cut and
individual income tax cut, was ruled not germane (Mr. Engel appealed the
ruling of the Chair; the appeal was defeated by a voice vote);
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Stupak, #19, re: allowing seniors and those eligible under a
Medicare prescription drug benefit to choose to pay Federal Supply Schedule prices for
drugs, was defeated by a yea-nay vote: 17 - 34;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
John, #20, re: protecting rural stability - would require
private plans to remain in a market for at least two years, providing seniors with a
measure of stability and predictability that would enable them to rely on their coverage,
was defeated by a yea-nay vote: 22 - 31;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Waxman, #21, re: eliminating the asset test in the Republican
legislation for low income seniors, was defeated by a yea-nay vote: 22 -
30;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Allen, #22, re: requiring the Center for Medicare and Medicaid
Services Administrator to provide for the conduct of research on the comparative
effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of prescription drugs that account for high levels of
expenditures or use by individuals in the Medicare program, was defeated
by a voice vote;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Allen, #23, re: requiring discount drug cards to achieve a
savings that is at least as low as the "Average Foreign Price," ensuring that
American seniors are not paying more than seniors in other countries for the same drugs
made by the same companies, was defeated by a yea-nay vote: 17 - 35;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Ms.
Solis, #24, re: improvement in education and outreach to certain
low income Medicare beneficiaries, was defeated by a yea-nay vote: 21 -
30;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Markey, #25, re: prohibiting private health care insurance plans
that operate discount card programs from using information about beneficiaries gained from
the card to discriminate against sick beneficiaries, was defeated by a
yea-nay vote: 22 - 30;
An amendment to the Tauzin amendment by Mr.
Markey, #26, re: striking disclosure of confidential income tax
information to private insurance plan sponsors, was defeated by a yea-nay
vote: 19 - 28.
