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


                 REPUBLICAN MEDICARE CUTS AFFECT US ALL

  (Mr. BENTSEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the 
devastating Medicare cuts proposed in the Republican budget plan. The 
Republican plan reduces patient choice and cuts clinical research.
  These cuts certainly will mean higher out-of-pocket expenses and 
reduced choice of doctors for our Nation's senior citizens.
  But seniors won't be the only people affected. These cuts will reduce 
the quality and availability of health care for all Americans by 
cutting payments for medical education and clinical research.
  These Republican cuts will harm some of our Nation's finest teaching 
hospitals, such as the University of Texas Health Sciences Center and 
Baylor College of Medicine in my district. The Association of American 
Medical Colleges estimates that these cuts will reduce payments for 
medical education by $2.4 billion per year. The University of Texas 
system estimates it will lose $21 million in Indirect Medical Education 
payments, and Baylor College of Medicine estimates it would lose $15 
million in such payments. These cuts will affect not just seniors but 
veterans as well since Baylor provides care to the VA Hospital in 
Houston.
  Without sufficient funding, teaching hospitals will have to reduce 
the number of residents trained and the training offered. Such actions 
would reduce care for all Americans and kill our investment in quality 
health care.
  Teaching hospitals also provide cutting-edge care for some of our 
Nation's sickest patients through their trauma centers, burn centers, 
cancer treatment centers, and other highly specialized facilities not 
available anywhere else. The proposed cuts will reduce access to these 
life-saving facilities.
  These Medicare cuts are bad for seniors and bad for everyone else as 
well.


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