AARP believes that Congress should establish a prescription drug benefit within Medicare that is available and affordable to all people covered by the program. It's important that a prescription drug benefit be available to everyone in Medicare, because middle-income older people, as well as those with low incomes, need help with prescription drug costs.

Congress should create a prescription drug benefit in Medicare that is seen as having value, so that people will want to participate. If a lot of people decide to join in the benefit, it will be reasonably priced, reliable, and stable.

Once prescription drug coverage is a part of Medicare, all eligible participants should be offered the choice of whether or not to participate in this coverage, just as people can decide whether or not they want Medicare Part B today.

People who are satisfied with the drug coverage they have now should not be made to participate in a Medicare prescription drug benefit. But the millions of older Americans with inadequate or no drug coverage desperately need access to an affordable benefit in Medicare.