[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 73 (Thursday, May 4, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6159-S6160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MEDICARE'S IMPENDING BANKRUPTCY
Mr. BENNETT. Madam President, last evening, as I sat in the chair,
the distinguished minority leader came on the floor and made a
statement about, among other things, Medicare. There were many of the
things he said on that occasion with which I disagree and so I take
this opportunity, while my memory is still fresh on the minority
leader's comments, to register my disagreement.
The reason I am doing it this quickly, and I hope this completely, is
because I believe that the issue of Medicare's impending bankruptcy is
so important that we should not allow statements that are incorrect to
stay on the Record uncorrected. We should make sure this debate is as
careful and as correct as it can possibly be. The stakes are much too
high for this debate to take place in an atmosphere that some might
consider demagogic.
I will take several of the minority leader's statements now and
respond to them specifically. The first one: He said--and I am quoting
from this morning's Congressional Record, page 6128:
Republicans have discovered that the Medicare Program faces
challenges in the years ahead. Democrats told them and the
Nation that 2 years ago when we shored up the Medicare
Program and cut the deficit, all without Republican votes.
Madam President, I apologize for not having this particular chart
made up in a chart big enough to show the world. Perhaps the television
can pick it up for those that are watching. But I am sure those in the
Chamber can at least see the direction of the curve, which is the
hospital insurance trust fund balance, in billions, starting in 1994;
it goes up slightly in 1995 and then begins a precipitous plunge to
zero in the year 2002.
The reason I hold this chart up is because the minority leader has
said, ``Democrats told the Nation that 2 years ago.'' This chart, Madam
President, became available on April 5, 1995, not necessarily 2 years
ago.
I sat in the Chamber in the other body when the President of the
United States addressed the House of Representatives in September 1993,
roughly 2 years ago, and gave a masterful discourse on health care. He
did not mention anything relating to the facts contained in this chart.
If, in fact, Democrats told Members this 2 years ago, the President
of the United States neglected to mention it when he made his statement
to the joint session of Congress.
I will not claim to have participated in all portions of the health
care debate last year. I do not think any Member can make that claim. I
watched the health care debate very closely. I cannot recall a single
instance where a single Democratic spokesman told Members in last
year's debate that the Medicare trust fund was in any kind of trouble.
The minority leader talked about the budget. I participated in the
budget debate when the new administration came in. The adoption of the
budget of which the minority leader is so proud, and I cannot recall--
and I would like to have him point out to me if I am wrong--a single
instance during that budget debate where the Democrats told Members
that this trust fund was headed for disaster, indeed, extinct, in the
year 2002.
I think the minority leader is incorrect when he says the Republicans
are just discovering something that the world has known and that the
Democrats openly told Members about 2 years ago.
Second, he says:
House Republicans are considering reductions in Medicare
growth on the order of $300 billion. Senate Republicans have
said they will need to reduce normal Medicare growth by $200
to $250 billion.
Then he goes on to say this is normal growth; the Republicans are
cutting this growth in a way that is irresponsible.
What he does not tell Members is that during the health care debate
last Congress, the President himself projected that we needed to reduce
Medicare by $118 billion. I am not going to quibble with him--yes, the
$200 billion figure that is talked about in the Senate now is obviously
much higher than the $118 figure that the President talked about.
The point is that the President, in last year's debate, and Democrats
on this floor in last year's debate said, ``We must reduce Medicare,''
and the figure the President came up with was $118 billion.
I do not think it is appropriate to say the Republicans have suddenly
discovered the idea of reducing Medicare in the hundreds of billions of
dollars, and is that not terrible, when the President himself was
saying we have to reduce Medicare from the projected rates by in excess
of $100 billion. That was OK, then. Now, Republicans are being bashed.
The one I feel the most strongly about, Madam President, is this
statement where the minority leader said:
Medicare Program costs are increasing because all health
insurance costs are increasing. In fact, on a per capita
basis, Medicare and Medicaid costs are increasing at the same
rate as privately insured costs.
On this one, Madam President, I did go to the chart makers and I have
produced a chart. I will put it here and share it with the Members of
the Senate and ask unanimous consent that the figures contained in this
table be printed in the Record following my Statement.
(See exhibit No. 1.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BENNETT. Here are medical expenditures. The dark figure--no
metaphor intended--the dark figure is for public expenditures for
health care; the light figure is for private expenditures.
The expenditures are calculated in terms of percentage growth. That
is, if we look at 1985, in that year, public expenditures for health
care went up at a rate of 8.8 percent per year, while private
expenditures went up 10.3 percent. We can see in these years there is a
disparity.
Some years public ones go up faster than private; other years private
expenditures go up substantially faster than public expenditures. We
can see that, in general terms, it is around 8 or 9 percent in public
expenditures and slightly more than that in private expenditures.
[[Page S6160]] Then in 1989, something happened. In 1989, the rate of
increase for public expenditures went to its highest level--11.9
percent; private levels going up at 10.3 percent. Then, in 1990, public
expenditures went up 13.2 percent; for the second year in a row, public
expenditures went up faster than private, a trend that has continued to
this day unabated.
In 1991, public expenditures are still up in the double digits--12.6
percent, but market forces are beginning to assert themselves in the
private marketplace, and the private expenditures only increased 5.6
percent. It did not stay down that low the next year. They came up to
6.9; but public expenditures stayed in double digits at 10.8 percent.
Now they have been getting better. In 1993, public expenditures 8.5,
but private is 7.2. In 1994, public expenditures come down to 7.8; but
private drops to 5.3 percent.
For the minority leader to say that the reason we cannot do something
about the expanding growth of Medicare is because Medicare expenditures
are going up at the same rate as private expenditures, is to ignore the
facts of the case.
Private expenditures are coming down in terms of the percentage
growth at a faster rate than public expenditures are coming down.
Indeed, Madam President, if we were to take the minority leader's
statement at face value, where he says:
Medicare Program costs are increasing because all health
care insurance costs are increasing on a per capita basis.
Medicare and Medicare costs are increasing at the same rate
as privately insured costs.
If that statement were true, that would mean that Medicare and
Medicaid costs would be increasing at 5.3 percent per year, which
figure, Madam President, is within the band the Budget Committee is
considering for increases for Medicare and Medicaid.
I have sat in on the budget briefing and I have heard the budgeteers
say, ``If only we could get the rate of increase down to 5 percent, we
could solve all of our problems.'' The rate of increase is down to 5
percent in private expenditures.
The minority leader thinks the two are the same. Perhaps he has them
confused and thinks that the private people have not done a good enough
job and the private expenditures are up in this kind of level for
public expenditures. In fact, they are not. They have, ever since 1989,
come down at a faster rate than the public expenditures come down and
they are leading the way.
This is the point we need to keep in mind, then, Madam President,
with respect to Medicare and the reforms that are necessary. We cannot
demagog this issue. We must stick with the facts. Our goal is to make
the system that takes care of our elderly as stable, as secure, and as
certain for the future as the system that takes care of the rest of the
population.
If we can do it as responsible public servants at the same rate of
increase that exists in the rest of the population, we can solve all of
our budgetary problems and the disastrous circumstance indicated in
this table will go away.
Madam President, I have nothing but respect for our distinguished
minority leader. I consider him a friend and one of the more reasonable
and certainly most thoughtful Members of this body. I feel that the
information that he shared with the Senate last night is inaccurate,
and it becomes Members in this debate to make sure that the record is
set straight as quickly as possible, because the stakes in this debate
are so high.
I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.
Exhibit No. 1.
CBO estimates for total medical and health care spending in
the public and private sector from 1985 until 1994. The
figures include spending for administrative costs,
construction, and research and development as well as
personal health care costs associated with doctors and
hospitals. The figures shown represent a percentage increase
over the previous year's spending level.
MEDICAL EXPENDITURES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Private
Year (percent) (percent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1985.............................................. 8.8 10.3
1986.............................................. 8.9 6.1
1987.............................................. 8.9 8.5
1988.............................................. 9.0 12.6
1989.............................................. 11.9 10.3
1990.............................................. 13.2 10.6
1991.............................................. 12.6 5.6
1992.............................................. 10.8 6.9
1993.............................................. 8.5 7.2
1994.............................................. 7.8 5.3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: CRS.
Mr. GORTON. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Santorum.) Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The Senator from Utah is recognized.
Mr. HATCH. I thank the Chair.
(The remarks of Mr. Hatch and Mr. Pryor, pertaining to the
introduction of S. 758 are located in today's Record under ``Statements
on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I see no other Senator seeking recognition
at this time. Therefore, I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________