To express the sense of them Senate concerning the structure of Medicare reform and the prescription drug benefit to ensure Medicare's long-term solvency and high quality of care.

1. Inserts new text wherever appropriate

   Inserts

   Inserted: SEC. . SENSE OF THE SENATE CONCERNING THE STRUCTURE OF MEDICARE REFORM AND THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG BENEFIT.

   Inserted: (a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:

   Inserted: (1) America's seniors deserve a fiscally-strong Medicare system that fulfills its promise to them and future retirees.

   Inserted: (2) The impending retirement of the "baby boom" generation will dramatically increase the costs of providing Medicare benefits. Medicare costs will double relative to the size of the economy from 2% of GDP today to 4% in 2025 and double again to 8% of GDP in 2075. This growth will accelerate substantially when Congress adds a necessary prescription drug benefit.

   Inserted: (3) Medicare's current structure does not have the flexibility to quickly adapt to rapid advances in modern health care. Medicare lags far behind other insurers in providing prescription drug coverage, disease management programs, and a host of other advances. Reforming Medicare to create a more self-adjusting, innovative structure is essential to improve Medicare's efficiency and the quality of the medical care it provides.

   Inserted: (4) Private-sector choice for Medicare beneficiaries would provide two key benefits: it would be tailored to the needs of America's seniors, not the government, and would create a powerful incentive for private-sector Medicare plans to provide the best quality health care to seniors at the most affordable price.

   Inserted: (5) The method by which the national preferred provider organizations in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program have been reimbursed has proven to be a reliable and successful mechanism for providing Members of Congress and federal employees with excellent health care choices.

   Inserted: (6) Unlike the Medicare payment system, which has had to be changed by Congress every few years, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program has existed for 43 years with minimal changes from Congress.

   Inserted: (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the Sense of the Senate that Medicare reform legislation should:

   Inserted: (1) Ensure that prescription drug coverage is directed to those who need it most.

   Inserted: (2) Provide that government contributions used to support Medicare Advantage plans are based on market principles beginning in 2006 to ensure the long and short term viability of such options for America's seniors.

   Inserted: (3) Develop a payment system for the Medicare Advantage preferred provider organizations similar to the payment system used for the national preferred provider organizations in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

   Show 6 more inserted paragraphsShow less

   Inserted: (4) Limit the addition of new unfunded obligations in the Medicare program so that the long-term solvency of this important program is not further jeopardized.

   Inserted: (5) Incorporate private sector, market-based elements, that do not rely on the inefficient Medicare price control structure.

   Inserted: (6) Keep the cost of structural changes and new benefits within the $400 billion provided for under the current Congressional Budget Resolution for implementing Medicare reform and providing a prescription drug benefit.

   Inserted: (7) Preserve the current employer-sponsored retiree health plans and not design a benefit which has the unintended consequences of supplanting private coverage.

   Inserted: (8) Incorporate regulatory reform proposals to eliminate red tape and reduce costs.

   Inserted: (9 Restore the right of Medicare beneficiaries and their doctors to work together to provide services, allow private fee for service plans to set their own premiums, and permit seniors to add their own dollars beyond the government contribution.

   The amendment doesn't say where this goes; the clerk decides.

   Original wording

   At the appropriate place, insert the following:

Read automatically from the Congressional Record. Check the original before relying on it.

As printed