Political Quotes

“So I think we are getting actually very close to the point where we will, in fact, enact a prescription drug benefit for Medicare. In 1965, when Medicare was created, it was a big step in the American health care history. Prior to that time, if one is a retiree, if one was elderly or if one was disabled and one could not afford their own health care, they did not have any. So in 1965, the Congress of the United States, in a historic moment, decided to provide Medicare coverage for the elderly and ultimately for the disabled, and then what it covered was that which is most obvious, hospitalization and visits to physicians. No one really gave serious consideration in 1965 to extending that Medicare benefit to prescription drugs, for a couple of reasons. Number one, it was a huge step to do what the Congress did in 1965 in providing coverage for hospitalization and physicians; and, secondly, Americans were not relying upon prescription drugs anything like they are today.”