Political Quotes

“I come today to talk about what I believe is one of the most challenging if not the most challenging issues affecting our seniors and affecting many families across the country. This was spoken to a while ago by the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry), who spoke very eloquently about the challenges of seniors related to the cost of prescription drugs. What we have seen over the years is a system that started in 1965 under Medicare that has been a great American success story. In 1965, half of our seniors could not find insurance or could not afford health care insurance. Now we have a system for health care for seniors. The challenge before us is that health care has changed, the way we provide health care has changed. In 1965 we were predominantly providing health care in hospitals with surgeries, and the use of drugs was limited to the hospital. Today, we know that care has changed; and we see home health care, we see outpatient care, and a great reliance on new prescription drugs, wonderful medications that we are very pleased and proud to have developed in the United States. But at the same time we are seeing a growing disparity and a horrible situation for too many seniors who literally on a daily basis are deciding do I buy my food today, do I get my medications, do I pay the electric bill, how can I keep going and remain healthy and well by having access to my medications? Because Medicare does not currently cover the costs of prescription drugs.”