The Senate voted to override President Bush's Medicare veto today and Roberts finally did what was right (but also happened to be popular.) (FYI - look who didn't!)

But would Roberts have cast his vote the same way if he weren't up for reelection this year? Well, considering his dismal record on Medicare, probably not.

In honor of Pat Roberts' election year pandering, here's the low-down:

Roberts voted to cut health care services:

• Roberts voted to cut Medicaid funding by $14 billion. [Vote #58, 3/17/05]
• Roberts voted to take health insurance away from 2.7 million seniors. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; USA Today, 11/25/03; National Journal, 1/21/04; Wall Street Journal, 3/2/04]
• Roberts voted to cut health care to six million low-income seniors. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; CPBB Fact Sheet, www.cbpp.org, 12/11/03; CPBB, www.cbpp.org, 12/8/03; Center for American Progress Medicare Roundtable, www.centerforamericanprogress.org, 12/4/03]
• Roberts voted to reduce prescription drug coverage to rural seniors. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; Center for American Progress, "Medicare Prescription Drug Legislation: Concerns for Rural Beneficiaries," www.centerforamericanprogress.org, 11/14/03; Center For American Progress Roundtable, 12/4/03]

Roberts voted to make it more expensive for seniors to get health care and prescription drugs:

• Roberts cast deciding vote against prescription drug benefit plan for Medicare. [Vote #66, 4/3/01]
• Roberts opposed spending $194 billion for Medicare prescription drug program. [Vote #83, 3/25/03]
• Roberts voted against preventing loss of drug coverage for beneficiaries with cancer. [Vote #250, 6/26/03]
• Roberts voted in increase middle-class seniors' out-of-pocket expenses. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; Center for Economic and Policy Research, www.cepr.net, 12/4/03]

Roberts voted for increased restrictions in available treatment options:

• Roberts voted against allocating $12 billion for additional treatment for Medicare beneficiaries with cancer, heart disease, alzheimers and diabetes. [Vote #253, 6/26/03]
• Roberts voted to restrict drug choices for seniors. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; The New Republic, 12/15/03]
• Roberts voted to give seniors less of a drug benefit than he receives as a senator. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; Center for American Progress Medicare Roundtable, www.centerforamericanprogress.org, 12/4/03]
• Roberts voted to restrict seniors' choice of doctors. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; Consumers Union, Analysis of Medicare Drug Plan, www.consumersunion.org, 11/25/03; CNN/USA/Gallup Poll, www.gallup.com, 6/03]

Roberts voted against allowing the government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare:

• Roberts voted against allowing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate with drug manufacturers for lower drug prices under Medicare. [Vote #60, 3/17/05]
• Roberts voted for Medicare prescription drug bill that made it illegal for Medicare to bargin over price with drug companies, adding an additional $139 billion to corporate profits. [Vote #459, 11/25/03; In These Times, 1/5/04; New York Times, 2/3/04; The Hill, 11/19/03; NAACP Legislative Report Card, 2003-04]