When Lyndon B. Johnson signed our country’s Medicare program into law forty years ago, he could have never anticipated the impact it would have on our nation’s seniors. At that time, half of the population over 65 lived without health coverage and as many as 30 percent lived below the poverty level. Times were certainly difficult for many of our seniors and Medicare was an attempt to provide relief from burdensome health care bills and inadequate treatment. Now, thanks largely to Medicare, our seniors are living longer and enjoying virtually universal health care coverage.

Despite the program’s tremendous success, the Republican Leadership in Washington is doing everything in its power to dismantle Medicare. Party leaders cut deals and held the vote open until 6:00am in 2003 to essentially hand over Medicare to private companies. These leaders bowed to the pressure of the pharmaceutical industry and violated the promise we made forty years ago to provide affordable and equitable health care for all seniors.

With the Medicare reform scheduled to go into effect in January of next year, my Democratic colleagues and I are prepared to work even harder to protect this historically successful program. As one of the leaders in this fight, I have introduced legislation that would weaken Republican attempts to privatize our traditional Medicare program. Rather than forcing seniors into private drug plans, my bill would give seniors the option of enrolling in a Medicare administered drug plan. Right now seniors do not even have the option of receiving drug coverage through the Medicare program they have come to know and trust. The goal is to empower seniors – not to leave their health care decisions in the hands of profit-hungry pharmaceutical companies.

Unlike the new Medicare reform, my bill would actually do something about the rising costs of prescription drugs in America. When the Republican Party voted to dismantle Medicare, it refused to allow the government to negotiate for lower drug prices on behalf of the 43 million seniors in America. This affectively tied the hands of the government and gave the pharmaceutical industry complete control over the price of prescription drugs. My bill would reverse this policy by allowing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to bargain for lower drug prices. The best way to improve Medicare is to harness the power of the market instead of relying on pharmaceutical companies to set the price for prescription drugs.

Medicare is an efficient and successful health insurance program that seniors have come to depend on. It is a program that we should build upon, not tear down amidst pressure from the pharmaceutical industry. As we celebrate Medicare’s 40^th anniversary, I want to reiterate my commitment to preserving and strengthening the program, our health care system, and all the providers we have in the United States. I will continue to fight any attempts to slash Medicare benefits and will work to enact changes providing seniors the type of drug coverage they deserve. It is time to put aside partisan politics and realize that no other issue has a greater impact on the health of our country than preserving Medicare.