Deborah Koff Ross: “I am not a pharmacist, a lot of people make that mistake, and I thank the gentleman for the compliment. But my wife is a…”

“I am not a pharmacist, a lot of people make that mistake, and I thank the gentleman for the compliment. But my wife is a pharmacist, and together we own a small town family pharmacy in my hometown of Prescott, Arkansas, my hometown of 3,400 people. That is why I am so passionate about the need for a truly modernized Medicare to include medicine for our seniors. Both sides of this aisle, Democrats and Republicans alike, have talked a lot about the need to provide our seniors with a prescription drug benefit, and yet we continue to see no action. This should not be a bipartisan issue. It is time for this Congress to unite behind the need to truly modernize Medicare to include medicine for our seniors, just as we have united in a bipartisan fashion on this war against terrorism. This is especially an important issue for me because, as a small town family pharmacy owner, I have seen seniors before coming to Congress. Day in and day out in that small town family pharmacy, I would see seniors who literally had to choose between buying their medicine, buying their groceries, paying their utilities, and paying their rent. This is America, and we are talking about the greatest generation. I believe we can do better than that by our seniors.”