Issue Position

Medicare was created in 1965 in response to the lack of health care for our nation's seniors. For the past 40 years, this program has become indispensable to millions however, the program has failed to keep pace with medical innovation. If we were to develop a Medicare system today, it is inconceivable that coverage of prescription drug costs would be excluded. Prescription drugs are an essential component of the delivery of health care, and Medicare must account for these life-saving treatments if it is to remain effective. I supported instituting the Medicare prescription drug benefit that provides assistance in mitigating the costs that seniors face when buying prescription drugs, while also ensuring that the Medicare system is left on a solid financial footing for future beneficiaries. The Medicare Modernization Act that I helped pass gives seniors a long-deserved choice in how they receive and pay for their prescription drugs. This program is so successful that seniors are signing up for this optional program by the millions. In fact, this program is not only a campaign promise kept to American seniors, this program is saving them hundreds and even thousands of dollars each year.