surrounding the vote “far more collegial” than those in the House debate on prescription drugs, and said the vote was “to divide the bill’s remaining $12 billion evenly between priorities favored by Republicans and Democrats.” [Vote 255, 6/26/03; AP, 6/26/03] XXXX Voted To Allow States to Provide Health Coverage to Legal Immigrant Children and Pregnant Women. In 2003, XXXX voted against an amendment to the prescription drug benefit bill. The amendment would strike a provision in the bill allowing states to provide health coverage to legal immigrant children and pregnant women. It would also express the sense of the Senate that the Finance Committee should hold hearings, relating to Medicaid or welfare reauthorization, on whether the five-year residency requirement for legal immigrants to obtain federal benefits under welfare should be overturned. According to CQ, President Bush supported the Sessions amendment. [Vote 256, 6/26/03] XXXX Voted Against Allowing Medicaid Beneficiaries to Participate in the New Medicare Drug Benefit. In 2003, XXXX voted against an amendment to the prescription drug benefit bill. The amendment would eliminate the exclusion of Medicaid beneficiaries from the new Medicare drug benefit. Medicaid would be the secondary payer for Medicare beneficiaries eligible for Medicaid. [Vote 257, 6/26/03] XXXX Voted Against Allowing Sale of Medigap Policies With Prescription Drug Coverage to Those Enrolled in Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit. In 2003, XXXX voted against an amendment to the prescription drug benefit bill. The amendment would strike a provision prohibiting the sale of Medigap policies with prescription drug coverage to those enrolled in the stand-alone Medicare prescription drug benefit. If displaced from their Medigap plan, seniors would be allowed to transition to any non-prescription plan offered by the same Medigap carrier or one of the two new prescription drug plans in the underlying bill. If the Medigap carrier did not offer another plan, seniors would have open enrollment into new plans offered by other carriers in the same region. [Vote 258, 6/26/03] XXXX Voted to Require Reimbursement to Health Centers for Difference Between Medicare and MedicareAdvantage. In 2003, XXXX voted to require reimbursement to health centers for the difference between the payment it received under Medicare and the payment it would receive for MedicareAdvantage. The vote was on an amendment to the prescription drug benefit bill that would require the Health and Human Services Secretary to reimburse a federally qualified health center for services rendered to an individual enrolled in a MedicareAdvantage plan for the amount equal to the difference between the payment it now receives under Medicare and the payment it would receive for MedicareAdvantage. [Vote 242, 6/25/03] XXXX Voted Against Reducing Prescription Drug Premium for Seniors Beyond Cost Limit But Not Yet Eligible for Catastrophic Coverage. In 2003, XXXX voted against reducing the premium for seniors whose prescription drug costs exceeded the Medicare cost limit for sharing drug expense, but did not yet qualify for catastrophic coverage. The vote was on an amendment to the prescription drug benefit bill, which would stipulate that eligible beneficiaries would pay reduced premiums if they are beyond the cost limit for sharing drug expense with Medicare but are not yet eligible for catastrophic coverage. [Vote 244, 6/25/03] XXXX Voted Against Requiring Balanced Visual and Audio Information in Drug Advertisements. In 2003, XXXX voted against an amendment to limit direct-to-consumer advertising of brand-name prescription drugs. The amendment would require drug companies to release advertisements with balanced visual and audio information. The Health and Human Services secretary would be required to speed up the review process of such advertisements. The secretary also would be able to require drug companies to assess their drugs against similar ones that already exist and include those comparisons in advertisements. Drug companies violating the advertising rules would be subject to civil penalties. [Vote 243, 6/25/03; CQ Daily Monitor, 6/25/03] XXXX Voted To Kill An Amendment That Would Give Employers an Incentive to Continue Helping Retirees Pay for Drugs. In 2003, XXXX voted to kill an amendment that would count “contributions from employers toward the money seniors must spend before a government prescription drug benefit would kick in.” The amendment would expand the definition of out-of-pocket expenses in the bill to include payments made by employers for retiree drug coverage and other third-party coverage not already included in the bill. Backers of the 169