US Presidency
2003

Each generation benefits from Medicare. Each generation has a duty to strengthen Medicare. And this generation is fulfilling our duty. First and foremost, this new law will provide Medicare coverage for prescription drugs. Medicare was enacted to provide seniors with the latest in modern medicine. In 1965, that usually meant house calls, or operations, or long hospital stays. Today, modern medicine includes out-patient care, disease screenings, and prescription drugs. Medicine has changed, but Medicare has not until today. Medicare today will pay for extended hospital stays for ulcer surgery. That's at a cost of about $ 28,000 per patient. Yet Medicare will not pay for the drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers, drugs that cost about $ 500 a year. It's a good thing that Medicare pays when seniors get sick. Now, you see, we're taking this a step further Medicare will pay for prescription drugs, so that fewer seniors will get sick in the first place. Drug coverage under Medicare will allow seniors to replace more expensive surgeries and hospitalizations with less expensive prescription medicine.