February 28, 2013

The Honorable Dick Durbin
United States Senate
711 Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Janice Schakowsky
United States House of Representatives
2367 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator Durbin and Representative Schakowsky:

On behalf of the millions of members and supporters of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, I am writing to express our support for the Medicare Prescription Drug Savings and Choice Act. We applaud this effort because it would improve the Medicare program for beneficiaries and reduce federal spending on prescriptions drugs.

We understand that your legislation would create one or more Medicare-administered drug plans with uniform premiums, providing seniors with the opportunity to purchase drugs directly through the Medicare program. In addition, your legislation would require the federal government to use its purchasing power to negotiate lower prices on prescription drugs for beneficiaries who enroll in the Medicare-administered plan. The Department of Veterans Affairs and many state governments are able to deliver lower drug prices because of price negotiation, and we believe that the federal government should be able to receive the best price available for Medicare prescription drugs. Finally, we appreciate that your legislation establishes an advisory committee to assess a public formulary and streamlines the Medicare Part D appeals process, which will help all beneficiaries.

Thank you for your continued leadership on Medicare, particularly for identifying ways to reduce Medicare spending without shifting costs to beneficiaries. We look forward to working with you to enact this important legislation.

Sincerely,

 

Max Richtman
President and CEO