Rob Bishop: “I have a good friend that bought a brand-new Mustang, and he loves that car wonderfully; but every once in a while parts…”

“I have a good friend that bought a brand-new Mustang, and he loves that car wonderfully; but every once in a while parts of it will break, and he has to fix it. He tries to improve it every once in a while, not with changing its looks or its purpose. But without servicing that automobile, today it would be simply a rusting hulk. Its glory days evaporated. In fact, quite frankly, it would not run. That car was built the same year Congress established Medicare. And with Medicare as well, if we did no servicing, if we did not slightly fix those few things that are broken, Medicare today would not run. We are not changing its looks or its purpose. Indeed, people today who are satisfied with Medicare as it is may keep the program as it is. In fact, incentives were put in the bill that we passed on Medicare to ensure just that. But we actually did try to improve the program in its prescription drug component to meet the needs of the most vulnerable of our senior citizens.”