[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H7182-H7183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REPUBLICAN PLAN TO CHANGE MEDICARE

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans have discovered the crisis 
in Medicare. We did not hear much about it last year when they 
stonewalled health care reform. We did not hear a thing about it during 
the contract in the first 100 days of the Congress or during the 
elections.
  Suddenly they have discovered it. We have got to cut $270 billion out 
of Medicare. That is the bottom line, they tell us. And these cuts are 
to be revealed on the 22d of September, not before, and adopted on the 
1st of October; 8 or 9 days for debate, discussion, hearings. The 
largest changes ever in Medicare, in 8 days.
  Why 8 days? I think it is because what they are proposing. 
Beneficiaries who want to enroll in MediGap plans, they are going to 
penalize them. They are going to make them pay more for Medicare. They 
do not think you should have MediGap insurance, and the rich people do 
not need it, so why should average Americans?
  MediGap coverages would be prohibited from covering part B expenses. 
They would increase premiums for Medicare recipients, impose a 20-
percent coinsurance on home health services, a 20-percent coinsurance 
on skilled nursing, a 20-percent coinsurance on clinical laboratory.

[[Page H 7183]]

  This is what they are going to sneak through in 8 days. And now they 
are trying to cover their fannies.


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