On the recordMarch 17, 2010
But I rise today to recognize significant benefits that the emerging health care bill will have on American seniors. Simply put, the health care bill will put forth, provides a better deal for America's seniors than our current system. Our health care plan takes great strides towards improving the quality of care our seniors receive. For starters, our bill eliminates copayments and deductibles for preventative services under the Medicare program. This is crucially important because we know that many seniors are not getting the preventative care they need and are often foregoing tests because they're too worried about the costs. The sad fact is one out of every five women over the age of 50 has not had a mammogram in 2 years. Also, more than a third of adults over the age of 50 have never had a colonoscopy. Without our bill's investments in primary care and its improved access to preventive care under Medicare, beneficiaries will continue to lose access. We are going to reverse this trend with the bill we pass this week.
