Thomas Daschle: “I think Medicare has been one of the greatest health care success stories in our Nation's history. My mother is a…”

“I think Medicare has been one of the greatest health care success stories in our Nation's history. My mother is a beneficiary of Medicare. The remarkable consistency and the extraordinary access to health care that Medicare has provided to her and tens of millions of other seniors simply cannot be overestimated. As I said earlier, the administrative cost for Medicare is about 3 percent. The administrative cost for private health care plans is 15 percent, 5 times greater. Medicare provides every senior in South Dakota a chance to get health care. There are no private sector plans in large parts of South Dakota because HMO's and PPO's don't serve rural America. So from an access point of view, from an administrative point of view, from a benefit point of view, from an assurance and confidence point of view for seniors, I don't know how you could do much better than Medicare. Can it be improved? Absolutely. Could we provide more preventive and wellness care? Absolutely. Can we provide a prescription drug benefit? Absolutely.”