Kent Conrad: “I rise to discuss the prescription drug bill and the Medicare reform package that is before us now. As a member of the…”

“I rise to discuss the prescription drug bill and the Medicare reform package that is before us now. As a member of the Finance Committee, I was involved in the markup of this legislation. Let me begin by commending the chairman, Senator Grassley, and the ranking member, Senator Baucus, our former chairman, for the way in which they brought our committee together. That was not easy to do. It is an extraordinarily complex undertaking to have an expansion of Medicare of this magnitude and to do it in a way that will achieve real results. I thank the chairman and the ranking member for the way they brought us together, and for the tone they set in the committee. We were in markup from 9 in the morning until 9 o'clock at night--12 hours of togetherness that actually went very well. I think we all know why we are here. When Medicare was first drafted, the world was a very different place in terms of providing health care. As Senator Moynihan used to explain, at the time Medicare was drafted, the Merck Manual that contains all prescription drugs was a very thin volume. Now when we look at the Merck Manual, it is a very weighty tome. There is a dramatic change in the pattern and practice of medicine. Perhaps no better example is what happens with stomach illness. Twenty years ago, there was not much one could do for somebody who suffered from ulcers other than to have surgery.…”