[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 24, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H5720]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
             PRESCRIPTION DRUG COVERAGE FOR SENIORS IN NEED

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, it is time to revise and reform Medicare. 
It is time to move us away from a government oriented, a Soviet model 
of socialism approach to health care for our senior citizens. We need a 
program that is light, a program that is solid, a program that is 
efficient, not one that is heavy with burdensome bureaucratic red tape.
  We need to have a prescription drug benefit. We need to have one that 
does not just blanket us all with a brand new entitlement, one that 
does not necessarily worry about Ross Perots or some retiree from 
General Motors who already is getting it anyhow. But we need to help 
the widow out there who is choosing between tamoxifen for her breast 
cancer and rent for her home.
  We want to help people stay independent. In 1965, when Medicare was 
conceived, the miracle drugs that are available to our seniors were not 
out there. They were not foreseen. Now we have drugs that enhance our 
life-style, that make us live longer and healthier and in less pain, 
and Medicare needs to adjust to this. That is what this bill is about 
that we will be voting on this week.
  I am confident that we can take the best ideas of Democrat Party, the 
Republican Party, the Independents and move it out of this body, 
combine it with those in the other body and come up with a plan that is 
best for our seniors.

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