[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 96 (Tuesday, June 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H5780]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  INCREASES IN MEDICARE AND MEDICAID WHILE REDUCING THE RATE OF GROWTH

  (Mr. CUNNINGHAM asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I would like to read the words of 
President Bill Clinton:

       Today Medicaid and Medicare are going up at three times the 
     rate of inflation. We propose to let it go up at two times 
     the rate of inflation.

  That is about 6 percent. The House bill is 5 percent, the Senate is 6 
percent, the same exact thing as Bill Clinton said.

       That is not a Medicare or Medicaid cut. So, when you hear 
     all this business about cuts, let me caution you that that is 
     not what is going on. We are going to have increases in 
     Medicare and Medicaid and reduction in the rate of growth.

  And the President said, ``Well, I tied that to a health care bill.'' 
Well, remember the President's health care bill got zero votes from any 
Democrats or Republicans?
  We need to save the health care system, revise insurance and tort 
reform and others but, yes, we are going to increase the amount of 
Medicare spending from $4,800 to $6,400 per person, and they said, 
``Well, is there pain?''
  Think about the pain of a senior citizen on a fixed income having to 
increase their Medicare premiums by 300 percent. They cannot do it. We 
need to protect the system.

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