Medicare will pay for extended hospital stays for ulcer surgery, at the cost of about $28,000 per patient.

We can reform Medicare for the benefit of people who are on Medicare.

Many seniors depend upon Medicare.

We have extended the life of the Medicare trust fund to 2025.

The mortality rate for HIV and AIDS in the United States is down more than 70 percent since 1995.

I look forward to the time when we will be forced to find another reason to meet, because the war on cancer will have been won.

There has never been a better time to invest money in cancer research, ever.

Our investment is producing results and, thanks to new treatments, many people with AIDS are living longer and experiencing a better quality of life than ever before.

We must build on today's achievement by assuring adequate funding for these and other initiatives that will help close the health status gap in this Nation.

Today I am pleased to announce that the Labor Department is issuing final regulations requiring private health plans covering 130 million Americans to provide a fast and fair internal appeals process for patients when coverage has been…

But the only way to give every American in every health plan the right to see a specialist, to go to the nearest emergency room—not the cheapest—and to hold health care plans accountable when they cause harm, is to pass a real, enforceable…

Under this new rule, for the first time, health plans would be required to make coverage decisions quickly— within 72 hours for urgent requests—and to provide consumers with meaningful information on their rights and benefits.

Too many spend huge percentages of their income on prescription drugs.

We must also continue to work to pass a broad range of long-term care initiatives.

I am extremely pleased that today the House passed H.R. 4386, the 'Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act,' in an overwhelming bipartisan vote.

We should not have a program to cover senior citizens and disabled people's medical benefits that doesn't cover prescription drugs.

Congress also has an obligation to strengthen Medicare and modernize it, with a voluntary, affordable prescription drug benefit.

We need a strong bill that protects all Americans and all plans.