On the recordSeptember 19, 2000
I must say, as a woman, I have been keenly aware of the need for Medicare to cover prescription drugs. It is simply a fact that 90 percent of all women over 65 have at least one chronic illness and 73 percent of women over 65 have at least two chronic illnesses. And, for this reason, because women tend to have more chronic illnesses and also live longer than men, they spend much more on prescription drugs than do men over 65. It is also a fact that, for a lot of reasons in our society, that most women are retired on very modest incomes, oftentimes not so low that they benefit from our State medication subsidy programs.
Source
govinfo.gov
