Byron Dorgan: “the amendment we are now considering, a first- and second-degree amendment, I have offered for myself, Mr. Wellstone…”

“the amendment we are now considering, a first- and second-degree amendment, I have offered for myself, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. Jeffords, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Collins, Mr. Levin, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Miller, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Feingold, and Ms. Snowe. It is a bipartisan amendment. It is a very important amendment--one that addresses a part of that which we are here to consider on the floor of the Senate on the issue of prescription drugs. Let me describe what the problems are. One, we don't have a prescription drug benefit in the Medicare Program, and we need to change that. We need to add a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare Program. Why do we need to do that? Because when Medicare was created, many of the lifesaving miracle drugs that exist now that allow senior citizens to live a longer and healthier life did not exist. So Medicare was basically an opportunity to provide health insurance coverage for doctors and hospitals but no prescription drug coverage. That was back in the 1960s. Things have changed. Were we to write a Medicare Program today, we would clearly include prescription drug coverage in that Medicare Program. I mentioned senior citizens especially because that is who benefits from the Medicare Program. They represent about 12 percent of the population of our country, and they consume one-third of all prescription drugs.”