Political Quotes

“I rise today to introduce legislation with my fellow co-chair of the Senate Diabetes Caucus, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, which would improve access to innovative diabetes technologies. Our bill, the Improving Medicare Beneficiary Access to Innovative Diabetes Technologies Act, would create a special task force at the Department of Health and Human Services to examine and address barriers that seniors face in accessing the latest diabetes management technologies. Since I founded the bipartisan Senate Diabetes Caucus in 1997 Federal funding for diabetes research has tripled from $319 million to more than $1 billion last year, and these research dollars are yielding results. This past summer, the Aging Committee held a hearing in conjunction with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Children's Congress titled ``Redefining Reality: How the Special Diabetes Program is Changing the Lives of Americans with Type 1 Diabetes.'' We heard compelling testimony from Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers, Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and JDRF President and CEO Dr. Aaron Kowalski on the pipeline from private- public research to commercially available products. New diabetes technologies--such as the artificial pancreas and implantable continuous glucose monitoring systems--allow diabetes patients to better manage and improve glycemic control, assess needed therapy on a timely basis, and adhere to treatment regimens.…”