Frank Pallone: “I think that what we need to point out is that we are talking about expanding Medicare to include a prescription drug…”

“I think that what we need to point out is that we are talking about expanding Medicare to include a prescription drug benefit for all seniors because, practically speaking, we know that Medicare works. The reason this works is it makes sense. If you take the 39 or 40 million seniors that now are eligible for Medicare, all seniors are eligible for Medicare, and you make a huge pool that includes all these seniors, then it basically goes along with the whole idea of insurance. In other words, the idea with insurance policies is to have as many people participate in the plan as possible because then those who run up huge costs are in it, but those who spend very little if anything on drug costs are also in it. That evens the cost. We know that the Republicans have boxed us in, so to speak, in terms of the financing of this. But if you think about it from a practical sense, the best thing to do is to pool all the people, which is really what Medicare is all about.”