[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 19 (Tuesday, January 31, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S1796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         PROTECTION OF MEDICARE

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, yesterday the Speaker of the House 
addressed the American Hospital Association. His comments should be 
reviewed by every Member of the Senate and by the American people as 
well, because they are an unmistakable preview of what we can expect if 
the constitutional amendment before us is enacted and of what the 
Republican Contract on American really means.
  The Speaker said that Medicare would be ``rethought from the ground 
up.'' He said that he would ``make every decision within the context of 
getting to a balanced budget.''
  I am not surprised by the Speaker's words, because the fact is that 
you can't balance the budget, protect defense spending, and provide 
billions in tax cuts for the rich without savage cuts in the Medicare 
Program. If Social Security is kept off limits, the Treasury Department 
estimates that Medicare would have to be cut by $77 billion by 2002--an 
almost unthinkable 31 percent of projected program outlays. If Social 
Security is also cut, the reductions would still be 21 percent of 
program costs--nearly $2,000 less Medicare for every senior citizen.
  Speaker Gingrich and the other authors of the Republican contract 
don't seem to know or care how dependent senior citizens are on 
Medicare. Even without any Medicare cuts, senior citizens spent an 
average of $2,800 out of their own pockets for health care last year. 
This is four times what nonelderly Americans spent. Just 7 years ago, 
in 1987, senior citizens had to spend 15 percent of their income for 
medical care--and that was too much. Today, that proportion has soared 
to 23 percent--almost $1 in every $4 of limited
 incomes that are already stretched to pay for food, housing, heat, 
clothing, and other essential expenses of daily living. Senior citizens 
should be paying less for medical care, not more.

  A word we are hearing more and more from our friends on the other 
side of the aisle is restructuring the Medicare Program. All of us are 
interested in improvements in Medicare, but restructuring is a barely 
disguised euphemism for forcing seniors into managed care and cutting 
benefits. Senior citizens should have the opportunity to join managed 
care plans--as many do today. They should be entitled to share in any 
savings from managed care in the form of better benefits and lower 
premiums--as many do today. But we should vigorously oppose any scheme 
to balance the budget by cutting Medicare and forcing senior citizens 
into managed care programs that deny them the freedom to go to the 
doctor of their choice.
  When Speaker Gingrich and his allies talk about a balanced budget, 
they don't seem to be very concerned about the budgets of American 
families--and particularly the limited budgets of our senior citizens. 
When they talk about freedom from big Government, they don't seem to be 
very concerned about the freedom of senior citizens to go to the doctor 
of their choice. But I say those are the budgets and the freedoms that 
we ought to be protecting, not attacking.
  The distinction between Medicare and Social Security is a false one, 
because Medicare is a part of Social Security. Social Security and 
Medicare are the twin pillars of retirement security for millions of 
senior citizens. Like Social Security, Medicare is a sacred compact 
between the Government and the people. It says, ``Work hard all your 
life, pay your dues, and we will guarantee you security in your old 
age.'' We have an obligation to protect that compact, not only for 
today's senior citizens but for their children and their grandchildren, 
for all of us, if we are fortunate, will some day be old.
  When Republicans in other years tried to break the promise of Social 
Security, senior citizens and their families all over this country told 
them that the answer was ``no.'' And the Congress responded. Today, it 
is time to say to Newt Gingrich and his friends that, when it comes to 
breaking the promise of Medicare, the answer is just as resounding and 
just as unequivocal. And once again, the answer is ``no.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from 
Louisiana [Mr. Breaux] is recognized to speak for up to 15 minutes.

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