Online NewsHour: The 108th Congress: Crisis and Conflicts: Medicare and Prescription Drugs





	As seniors call for a prescription drug benefit and the projected budget deficit grows, doctors and hospitals are fighting to increase the amount they are paid for treating Medicare patients. Health correspondent Susan Dentzer reports on the current pressures Medicare is under and the possibility that the 108th Congress will make changes to the program.



	"We must come together now to take the sound, careful, and deliberate steps needed to improve the Medicare program for today's and tomorrow's seniors." - President Bush, statement on Medicare from July More on the Republicans' Views on Medicare



	"There is no domestic issue that is more important to the American people than assuring that senior citizens can afford the prescription drugs they need... It is time to pass a Medicare prescription drug benefit that truly meets the needs of the elderly, a bill that makes their health care and health security our priority." - Sen. Ted Kennedy (D - Mass.) More on the Democrats' Views on Medicare


	Online NewsHour Special Report: Prescription Drug Coverage July 22, 2002 Susan Dentzer investigates efforts to control health care costs. June 7, 2002 Tom Bearden reports on many doctors' growing reluctance to treat Medicare patients. August 22, 2002 Paul Solman weighs the pros and cons of new medical technologies.



	From Consumers Union and the AARP to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of American and the American Association of Health Plans, dozens of groups are involved in the debate over reforming Medicare. Find out more about some of the major groups and what they hope to persuade Congress to do about health care in the U.S.


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