August 7^th 2009

The Honorable Diana DeGette

Congresswoman for the State of Colorado

2335 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington DC 20515

Dear Congresswoman DeGette,

Members of the Rocky Mountain Action Coalition (RMAC) met with you during March of this year. At the meeting we requested that you support a catastrophic coverage benefit for Medicare recipients and support for HR 684/S.330, bills that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drugs directly with the pharmaceutical companies.

We are extremely pleased to see that you co-sponsored an amendment to HR 3200, the House health care bill, to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drugs directly with the drug manufacturers. This should result in huge savings on much needed medications for senior citizens. The RMAC and the members of our retiree organizations send our heartfelt thanks to you for the great work you are doing on health care reform.

We again urge you to look at the problem of catastrophic health care costs for Medicare recipients. Catastrophic health care costs are responsible for 62% of all bankruptcies in the United States and the rate for Medicare patients is twice the national average. HR 3200 limits the annual out-of-pocket medical costs to $5,000 per individual and $10,000 per family for most Americans, but prohibits Medicare patients from participating in these benefits. Please use your influence on the House health care committees to address this serious discrepancy.

Once again, thanks for the great work you are doing on health care reform and we wish you luck in pursuing these reforms to a successful conclusion. Sincerely,

John R Kotson; RMAC Chairman         Barbara Wilcox; AUSWR Health Specialist

Hazel Floyd; AUSWR Regional VP      Ed Bettinardi; Health Care Committee Chairman