Senate Rejects Yet Another Rx Plan

Published August 30, 2002

A Medicare prescription drug benefit is all but dead for this year’s Congressional session. The Senate defeated a scaled-back plan to help the nation’s neediest seniors pay for their medicines. The measure failed July 31 on a 50-49 procedural vote, 11 short of the 60-vote supermajority required under Senate rules.

How They Voted
50 Yes; 49 No; 1 Not Voting
Measure required a 60-vote supermajority,
and thus failed
State Senators Vote
Alabama Sessions (R)
Shelby (R)
No
No
Alaska Murkowski (R)
Stevens (R)
No
No
Arizona Kyl (R)
McCain (R)
No
No
Arkansas Hutchinson (R)
Lincoln (D)
Yes
Yes
California Boxer (D)
Feinstein (D)
Yes
Yes
Colorado Allard (R)
Campbell (R)
No
No
Connecticut Dodd (D)
Lieberman (D)
Yes
Yes
Delaware Biden (D)
Carper (D)
Yes
Yes
Florida Graham (D)
Nelson (D)
Yes
Yes
Georgia Cleland (D)
Miller (D)
Yes
Yes
Hawaii Akaka (D)
Inouye (D)
Yes
Yes
Idaho Craig (R)
Crapo (R)
No
No
Illinois Durbin (D)
Fitzgerald (R)
Yes
No
Indiana Bayh (D)
Lugar (R)
Yes
No
Iowa Grassley (R)
Harkin (D)
No
No
Kansas Brownback (R)
Roberts (R)
No
No
Kentucky Bunning (R)
McConnell (R)
No
No
Louisiana Breaux (D)
Landrieu (D)
No
Yes
Maine Collins (R)
Snowe (R)
Yes
No
Maryland Mikulski (D)
Sarbanes (D)
Yes
Yes
Massachusetts Kennedy (D)
Kerry (D)
Yes
Yes
Michigan Levin (D)
Stabenow (D)
Yes
Yes
Minnesota Dayton (D)
Wellstone (D)
Yes
Yes
Mississippi Cochran (R)
Lott (R)
No
No
Missouri Bond (R)
Carnahan (D)
No
Yes
Montana Baucus (D)
Burns (R)
Yes
No
Nebraska Hagel (R)
Nelson (D)
No
No
Nevada Ensign (R)
Reid (D)
No
Yes
New Hampshire Gregg (R)
Smith (R)
No
No
New Jersey Corzine (D)
Torricelli (D)
Yes
Yes
New Mexico Bingaman (D)
Domenici (R)
Yes
No
New York Clinton (D)
Schumer (D)
Yes
Yes
North Carolina Edwards (D)
Helms (R)
Yes
Not Voting
North Dakota Conrad (D)
Dorgan (D)
Yes
Yes
Ohio DeWine (R)
Voinovich (R)
No
No
Oklahoma Inhofe (R)
Nickles (R)
No
No
Oregon Smith (R)
Wyden (D)
Yes
Yes
Pennsylvania Santorum (R)
Specter (R)
No
Yes
Rhode Island Chafee (R)
Reed (D)
No
Yes
South Carolina Hollings (D)
Thurmond (R)
No
No
South Dakota Daschle (D)
Johnson (D)
Yes
Yes
Tennessee Frist (R)
Thompson (R)
No
No
Texas Gramm (R)
Hutchison (R)
No
No
Utah Bennett (R)
Hatch (R)
No
No
Vermont Jeffords (I)
Leahy (D)
No
Yes
Virginia Allen (R)
Warner (R)
No
No
Washington Cantwell (D)
Murray (D)
Yes
Yes
West Virginia Byrd (D)
Rockefeller (D)
Yes
Yes
Wisconsin Feingold (D)
Kohl (D)
No
Yes
Wyoming Enzi (R)
Thomas (R)
No
No

Advocates of competing proposals promised to continue their efforts. But with the Senate leaving for an August recess and Fall political campaigns looming, Democrats and Republicans alike are pointing fingers and taking the issue home to their districts.

The Senate action defeated a fourth and final proposal for a drug benefit, following similar votes earlier in July. Sponsored by Senators Bob Graham (D-Florida) and Gordon Smith (R-Oregon), the Medicare Outpatient Prescription Drug Act (S 2625) offered a 10-year, $400 billion plan backed by most Democrats. It would have covered drug costs for seniors whose income is less than twice the poverty rate—$17,720 for singles and $23,880 for couples. Seniors whose annual drug costs exceed $3,300, regardless of income, would also have qualified.

The Senate’s failure to pass drug benefit legislation means senior citizens who rely on Medicare will receive no federal assistance for their prescribed medicines. The program does not cover drugs except those taken during a hospital stay.

While most senior citizens have prescription drug insurance through other sources, such as individual or employer-provided insurance policies, about one-third do not.

At Issue

Lawmakers were unable to find a compromise position that would bridge the wide ideological gap separating Republicans and Democrats, all of whom see the prescription drug benefit debate as one element of a much bigger issue: the future of Medicare.

Simply put, most Republicans insist any new benefits should be provided as subsidies to private HMO-type insurers. Most Democrats, by contrast, want any new benefits to be handled within the government-run Medicare system.

John Rother, policy director for AARP, the nation’s largest senior-citizen interest group, expressed disappointment. “We’re determined to make this not the end, but conventional wisdom says this was the best shot we had,” he said.

The Republican-controlled House approved its own prescription drug bill in June on a near-party-line vote. The measure would provide subsidies to HMOs and other insurers to cover senior citizens.