Frank Pallone: “This Sunday coming up is Mother's Day. A few years ago I was on the floor talking about Medicare at the time when there…”

“This Sunday coming up is Mother's Day. A few years ago I was on the floor talking about Medicare at the time when there was an effort by the Republicans on the other side to try to cut back significantly on the funding. And one of my colleagues on the Republican side was talking about how his mother was frustrated and did not need Medicare because it was not a good program. And I was shocked because, as the gentleman said, everyone that I talk to, including my own mother who is on Medicare, tells me just the opposite. They think Medicare is very valuable. What they would like to see is maybe expanded coverage. I sort of thought it was ironic that it was close to Mother's Day, as it is again today, and we had these opposite points of view about the Medicare program. But, frankly, I get no one who suggests to me that they want to see a radical overhaul of Medicare. One of the things I want to talk about later, after my other colleagues have spoken, is a report that just came out by OWL, I guess the Older Women's League, that talks about Medicare and women, and this was in preparation for Mother's Day. It has some significant insights into the problems that elderly women face.”