After five years of solid deadlock, the U.S. Senate is on the verge of passing a bill that would bring about the largest expansion of Medicare benefits in history.

For the first time, Medicare will offer subsidies for prescription drugs. The new bill has made strange bipartisan bedfellows, but is it the best deal for senior voters?

Click the “Listen” link above to hear about the new Medicare bill and its implications for senior citizens.

Guests:

Julie Rovner, NPR Health Policy Correspondent

Stuart Altman, Chaikin professor of National Health Policy at Brandeis University, former member of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare

Marilyn Moon, Senior Fellow and Health Economist at the Urban Institute, former public trustee for the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds;Gerard Anderson, Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

David Certner, Director of Federal Affairs, AARP