Prescription Drug Plan. This motion by Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) to recommit H.R. 4954 to the House Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee carried instructions that it be reported back quickly with plans for a prescription drug program through Medicare. Under this new program patients would pay $25 monthly and would have a $100 annual deductible. They would have to pay 20 percent of drug costs up to $2,000, then Medicare would pay all costs beyond $2,000. This prescription drug program would cost an estimated $800 billion over 10 years.
The House rejected Gephardt’s motion to recommit H.R. 4954 on June 28, 2002 by a vote of 204 to 223 (Roll Call 281). We have assigned pluses to the nays.
