The Wit and Wisdom of Ted Kennedy - Bill Adler [27]
—Speech, October 5, 1975
What we have today in the United States is not so much a health-care system as a disease-care system.
—Remarks on health care, May 31, 1994
America doesn’t need a double standard on health care: one for those who can afford it and another for those who can’t.
—Speech, February 1, 1976
A world that is spending $300 billion a year for arms can spend a little more for health. And it may well be that what we do in health will be as important to world peace and cooperation in the long run as what we achieve in arms control, and at a tiny fraction of the cost.
—Speech, May 6, 1977
Too many elderly Americans today must choose between food on the table and the medicine they need to stay healthy or to treat their illnesses. Too many seniors take half the pills their doctor prescribes, or don’t even fill needed prescriptions—because they cannot afford the high cost of prescription drugs. Too many seniors are paying twice as much as they should for the drugs they need, because they are forced to pay full price, while almost everyone with a private insurance policy benefits from negotiated discounts. Too many seniors are ending up hospitalized—at immense costs to Medicare—because they aren’t receiving the drugs they need at all, or can’t afford to take them correctly. Pharmaceutical products are increasingly the source of miracle cures for a host of dread diseases, but senior citizens are being left out and left behind because Congress fails to act.
—Statement at Senate Finance Committee
Hearings on Prescription Drug Coverage
for Seniors, March 29, 2000
Medicare is a specific contract between the people and their government. It says, “Work hard, pay into the trust fund during your working years, and you will have health security in your retirement years.” Today’s elderly kept their part of the bargain. They fought in World War II and Korea. They got up every morning, went to work, played by the rules, raised their families. Their hard work laid the foundation for the prosperity our country enjoys today. But our country’s promise to them is being broken today and every day, because Medicare does not cover prescription drugs . … It is time to honor that promise.
—Statement at Senate Finance Committee
Hearings on Prescription Drug Coverage
for Seniors, March 29, 2000
Medicare and Social Security are two of the most successful programs ever enacted. They are a solemn commitment to all Americans—North, South, East, and West—that if they contribute to trust funds during their working years, they will have financial security and health security in their golden years.
—Speech on the 30th Anniversary of Medicare,
July 25, 1995
In any given year, one-third of the uninsured go without needed medical care. Eight million uninsured Americans fail to take medication their doctors prescribe because they cannot afford to fill the prescription. Four hundred thousand children suffering from asthma never see a doctor. Five hundred thousand children with recurrent earaches never see a doctor. Thirty-two thousand Americans with heart disease go without life-saving and life-enhancing bypass surgery or angioplasty—because they are uninsured. Twenty-seven thousand uninsured women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. They are twice as likely as insured women not to receive medical treatment until their cancer has already spread in their bodies.
The chilling bottom line is that eighty-three thousand Americans die every year because they have no insurance. Being uninsured is the seventh leading cause of death in America. Our failure to provide health insurance for every citizen kills more people than kidney disease, liver disease, and AIDS combined.
—Statement on “President Bush’s Fantasy Budget,”
February 21, 2001
Nurses are the backbone of an effective health care system. We cannot have a quality health care system without quality care by nurses.
—Statement urging the passage of the Nurse
Reinvestment Act, July 22, 2002
With the sole exception of South