Grassley says Medicare is top priority

Congress is back in session after its long summer recess and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says one of his top priorities now is passing a strong new Medicare bill, one that provides the nation’s seniors with prescription drug coverage.Grassley spoke this morning on C-Span. Grassley says it’s “very necessary” for Congress to pass such a bill, saying it should be a “no brainer” to include prescription drug coverage for seniors. He notes the many changes that have taken place in the health care industry in the last 38 years since many of the current Medicare provisions were laid out. Back in 1965, Grassley says the practice of medicine was to put everyone in the hospital when prescription drugs were only one-percent of the cost of medicine. Today, he says the emphasis is to keep people out of hospitals, often using prescription drugs which are now 15-percent of the cost of medicine. Grassley says he -does- expect the Medicare reform measure to pass this session. The House has already passed the bill three times, the Senate’s passed it twice in two years, and President Bush says he’s willing to put 400-billion dollars toward the program, so Grassley says “the stars are in lined up” that the bill will pass.