Political Quotes

“It was in 1963 that President John F. Kennedy said, when leading the fight to enact Medicare at that time: A proud and resourceful nation can no longer ask its people to live in constant fear of a serious illness for which adequate funds are not available. These are the words I want to stress. He said: We owe the right of dignity in sickness, as well as in health. Protecting the health of our Nation's seniors was the right thing to do in the early 1960s, and it is the right thing for us to do now. Back in 1965, Medicare was designed for the way medicine was practiced at that point in time, and that was to treat acute or episodic illnesses that would bring people to the hospitals. It was not designed at that time, nor could it be designed at that time, to keep up with the dazzling innovations, the creativity, and the dynamic discoveries that were being made almost on a daily basis. These great advances have and will continue to transform medicine. We have a structure with Medicare that simply is not flexible enough or adaptable enough to assimilate or capture those great discoveries that are being made. That leads us to unacceptable gaps in coverage.”