[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 9, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REPUBLICAN DOUBLESPEAK ON MEDICARE CUTS

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to warn my colleagues to 
beware of Republican doublespeak on Medicare cuts.
  The greatest doublespeak is that Republicans will reform Medicare to 
give seniors more choices by giving them vouchers to buy private 
insurance.
  What they do not say is that the vouchers will not be worth enough to 
enable them to buy an insurance policy that gives them the choices they 
have today.
  They do not say that the value of the vouchers will force seniors 
into the lowest cost and most restrictive HMO's.
  They do not say that the value of the voucher is going to be 
ratcheted down every year to become worth less and less until seniors 
are saddled with virtually all the costs of their health care.
  They do not say that the vouchers will toss seniors to swim alone in 
the perilous and confusing currents of the private insurance market--
the same market that has reduced their children's choices.
  Vouchers are not more choice. They spell the end of Medicare coverage 
that seniors--and their families--rely on.


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