The legislation provides the most sweeping changes to Medicare since its creation in 1965, including a new prescription drug benefit for 40 million older and disabled Americans. It also provides relief to hospitals and physicians in rural areas in Maine and across the nation. The bill also includes provisions that Senator Collins authored to ensure that homebound patients have more access to Medicare, dollars to help support Maine's teaching hospitals, and a provision to lower the cost of drugs by making generic drugs more readily available to consumers.
"The Medicare Prescription Drug bill is a landmark piece of legislation that makes affordable prescription drug coverage available to all of our nation's seniors as well as to people with disabilities who receive Medicare benefits," said Senator Collins. "I agree with groups like the AARP who say the bill is imperfect, but we simply cannot allow the quest for perfect to become the enemy of what is good. This historic opportunity may never come again, and we cannot afford to let it pass. Millions of older Americans and their families will be helped by this legislation. Millions more will be helped in the future."
Details of the Medicare legislation that directly benefit people in Maine:
ü A prescription drug benefit for seniors who choose to participate in the program, along with generous financial assistance for low-income seniors. Starting next year, a drug discount card will be available to help seniors obtain lower cost drugs. This discount card provides immediate relief to patients, until the prescription drug benefit program is fully underway in 2006
ü Increases Medicare payments to rural hospitals and physicians by $25 billion. This provision will increase Medicare's payments to Maine hospitals by more than $125 million over the next ten years and payments to Maine physicians by about $7 million a year.
ü Makes generic drugs more accessible, while providing incentives for drug research and development.
ü Ensures that homebound patients have access to Medicare services.