Political Quotes

“I wish to comment on the recent Medicare bill we passed. Last year--this being February--President Bush and Congress made good on our promise to strengthen and expand Medicare for today's seniors and individuals with disabilities. The bill, called the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, does represent the most significant improvement to Medicare in two generations. The reason I wish to comment on it today is that as a product of the debate and passage of this legislation, we are starting to see, even right now, impressive results. Very simply, we said the program would give seniors better health care at lower out-of-pocket cost and give seniors and individuals with disabilities more choices. That is exactly what the bill is doing. We said the bill would strengthen the program and increase flexibility and choice, and, indeed, that is exactly what is happening. Dozens of Medicare, managed care companies just recently announced-- about 10 days ago--that in 3 short weeks, they are going to increase benefits, enhance benefits; that they are going to reduce or even eliminate premiums altogether; and that they are going to expand their service areas. They tell us they are doing all of this as a direct result of this Medicare bill. For example, Aetna plans to cut its Medicare+Choice premiums by up to 50 percent to seniors. The action by Aetna will reduce inpatient care fees and physician copayments.”