December 14,2004

Survey on Employer Health Coverage for Retirees

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Reporters and Editors
Re: Survey on retiree health coverage
Da: Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2004

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, today issued thefollowing comment upon the release of the Kaiser Family Foundation/Hewitt Associates survey onretiree health coverage offered by employers.

“Employers offer a valuable source of prescription drug coverage for many of our nation’sMedicare-eligible retirees. Yet, over the last decade, employers have faced a harder and harder timein offering retiree prescription drug coverage. Last year, when Congress crafted the MedicareModernization Act, which created the first-ever voluntary Medicare prescription drug benefit, wetook several steps to help preserve this coverage for retirees. I’m very encouraged by the surveyresults, which showed that most surveyed employers will offer retiree prescription drug benefits in2006 in concert with the Medicare prescription drug benefit. We sought to stem the downward trendin the availability of retiree prescription drug benefits, and the survey is a good sign that we’reaccomplishing that goal.”