"If House Republicans move forward with a repeal of the health care law ... we will block it."

[Clio the Leo]

Letter from Senate Dems to Boehner

January 3, 2011

Speaker-elect John Boehner
Office of the Speaker of the House
H-232, U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Speaker-elect Boehner,

As you know, several key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became effective on January 1, 2011. We write out of concern for one particular measure that addresses a loophole in the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

Ever since it was first enacted in 2003, the Medicare Part D program has come with a catch. Once an initial coverage limit is reached, beneficiaries have to absorb 100 percent of their drug costs until catastrophic coverage kicks in. This gap in coverage, known as the Medicare "donut hole," totaled $3,610 in 2010. That means that approximately 3.4 million U.S. seniors with the heaviest reliance on prescription drugs faced the prospect of paying up to $4,000 out of pocket before they qualified for further assistance from Medicare.

This gap in coverage has been a defect in the Medicare Part D program since its creation. It poses a hardship for all seniors, and for some, it has even bankrupted them.

Thankfully, the federal health care law signed in 2010 fully closes the so-called "donut hole" by 2020. The new law provides that seniors will receive a 50-percent discount on the brand name drugs that they purchase while stuck in the "donut hole" and thus will save them thousands of dollars starting in 2011. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, seniors who have high prescription drug spending will save as much as $12,300 over the next 10 years and seniors with low drug costs will save an average of $2,400 over 10 years.

This is no minor reform. But almost as soon as it has taken effect, it is already in jeopardy.

The incoming House Republican majority that you lead has made the repeal of the federal health care law one of its chief goals. We urge you to consider the unintended consequences that the law's repeal would have on a number of popular consumer protections that help middle class Americans. The "donut hole" fix is just one measure that would be threatened by a repeal effort. Taking this benefit away from seniors would be irresponsible and reckless at a time when it is becoming harder and harder for seniors to afford a healthy retirement.

If House Republicans move forward with a repeal of the health care law that threatens consumer benefits like the "donut hole" fix, we will block it in the Senate. This proposal deserves a chance to work. It is too important to be treated as collateral damage in a partisan mission to repeal health care.

Sincerely,

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin
Senate Democratic Vice Chairman Charles E. Schumer
Senate Democratic Conference Secretary Patty Murray
Senate Democratic Policy Committee Vice-Chair Debbie Stabenow

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/letter-from-senate-dems-to-boe.html

[demosincebirth]

1. It also has to be signed by the President

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Way to go Senator Murray

You represent my state well

:thumbsup: :applause:

[Lifelong Protester]

3. "WE,WILL, WE, WILL....BLOCK YOU!"

Sorry for the caps, but I just had to go there.
And I say, good enough. Let's get a little more steel in those spines.

[DividedWeAre]

4. It is just going to get stupider and stupider

Posturing and posing is all we will see out of Congress for awhile before the preening feathers come down. They will rise up for their constituents and then they will all sit down and have dinner together and maybe do one good thing all year. I am still so pissed off that the Dems lost the house to these Boneheads. Do you think those people that voted for the Tea Party candidates have figured out that they have been duped, yet ?

[ladjf]

6. How bad to the Republicans have to behave in order for the

majority of Americans realize that Republicans are "doing them in"?

[ladjf]

5. More time wasted for nothing more than political theater. nt

[rbixby]

8. That's exactly it!

Then they'll accuse democrats of doing nothing while they sit and leave the debate open for a long long time.

[Kablooie]

7. Unless the Republicans insist. Then the Democrats will let it fall.

I have no faith in their spine growing ability at all.

[gratuitous]

9. Oh no, we're going to get the full treatment

They had another tiresome segment this morning on the Toady Show. The reporter grudgingly admitted that any bill to repeal health care reform out of the House will die in the Senate, but that didn't stop them from breathlessly telling viewers about all the neatsy swell-o stuff the Republican-dominated House was going to do! And it's not just empty posturing and grandstanding, so stop saying that!

[mdmc]

10. ..