Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) released the following statement tonight after the Senate voted to override the President’s veto of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, today pledged his commitment to working with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to develop and implement policies that provide all Americans with access to quality, affordable health care and lifetime financial security by signing a pledge presented by Divided We Fail, a partnership formed by AARP, the Business Roundtable and Service Employees International Union (SEIU). 

“Today’s report serves as an important reminder of the fiscal challenges our country faces in the not-too-distant future.  Since its establishment during the Great Depression, Social Security has lifted millions of seniors, surviving spouses and children, and disabled Americans out of poverty, yet this administration continues to undermine its long-term fiscal health and openly advocate for its dismantlement through privatization.  Ensuring Social Security’s continued ability to safeguard current and future generations will require a serious, constructive dialogue that puts aside political agendas and divisions for the good of the country.

Senators join colleagues in pushing for solutions to beneficiaries’ problems

April 17, 2006
WASHINGTON – Late last week Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) joined other Senate Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Michael O. Leavitt, asking the Secretary to address the financial constraints some states are facing due to Medicare Part D.

Last month, the top insurance regulators from all 50 states admonished the Bush administration for misleading American seniors about the new Medicare drug benefit. A month earlier, the Government Accountability Office released shocking findings showing that the private plans so aggressively promoted by the president and his allies in the new Medicare law are likely to cost the federal government between $650 and $750 more per person per year.

Back in grade school, most of us learned the story of the Trojan Horse. As the legend goes, the ancient Greeks, who besieged the city of Troy for ten years unsuccessfully, decided to try a new tactic: they rolled a giant wooden horse up to the gates of the city. The Trojans, thinking it was a gift, brought it inside. That night, Greek soldiers who were hiding inside the horse’s hollow belly were able to open the gates of Troy, let in the rest of the Greek army, and conquer the city.

In today’s world, it’s hard to imagine a college student writing a term paper without using a computer. Or a businessman crossing the Atlantic without taking a jet. Or a family doing its taxes without a calculator. Taking on these projects without making full use of modern scientific advances wouldn’t just be impractical – it would be unthinkable.

For the same reason, it’s hard to imagine a senior citizen receiving help in meeting the costs of doctor visits and hospitalizations, but not the high costs of prescription drugs. But that’s where Medicare is today. Medicare still does not cover the cost of medicines that give older Americans the opportunity to live more active, productive, and rewarding lives.