Thomas Daschle: “I thank the Senator for her poignant story and for again reminding us of the human face behind this issue. Those faces…”

“I thank the Senator for her poignant story and for again reminding us of the human face behind this issue. Those faces come so effectively to mind when one reads the words and listens to the extraordinarily difficult, agonizing decisions these older Americans have to make as they make their choices, as the Senator has indicated. Has the Senator ever thought of the irony we find in our country today where those people most vulnerable, those people who need prescription drugs the most, are the very ones who have no access to prescription drugs through the health plan to which they subscribe? Those of us who are younger, those of us who have private health plans today, have plans to which we can subscribe that have all kinds of prescription drug coverage available to us. I can go to a drugstore and have many of my drugs paid for, if I would ever find the need, but my mother cannot. She is part of Medicare. My relatives and my constituents cannot if they are in Medicare because they are in a program that has never adopted a prescription drug benefit program, in spite of the need that has been clearly demonstrated given the trends in health care delivery out of hospitals and into the more outpatient treatment care that is provided today.”