[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 122 (Wednesday, July 26, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


             MEDICARE: A CONTRACT WITH OUR SENIOR CITIZENS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kim). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, 30 years ago a contract with our senior 
citizens was created when the Medicare program was enacted, and now the 
Republican Congress is proposing to end Medicare as we know it and 
balance the budget, I am afraid, on the backs of senior citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, the Republican Party was against Medicare when it was 
enacted in 1965, and now that Republicans have regained control of 
Congress, one of the first things that they want to do is take $270 
billion out of the program and for senior citizens to foot the bill for 
a balanced budget. While I believe in a balanced budget, I feel the 
Republican approach is incorrect, wrong and draconian.
  Medicare has had a lot of success since it was established. Poverty 
rates for senior citizens have declined dramatically. Medicare has 
given seniors universal health coverage and protected them from 
depleting their hard-earned resources. Without Medicare, many seniors 
would be forced to choose between health care, food, and shelter.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to read an excerpt from testimony submitted to 
Congress during the Medicare debate from a concerned citizen in 1963. 
It is from the Congressional Record: ``My mother is now 85 years old, 
and since she has been hospitalized before, the insurance company 
cancelled out her policy, and now I am paying the bill. Her sole income 
is a social security check for $40 a month. I hope my children will not 
have the same choice to make to either pay the bills or put dad on 
relief.'' That is from the Record on November 21, 1963.
  Mr. Speaker, the problem is that the Republicans have not discussed 
the specific details of how they plan to change Medicare, because they 
are afraid to tell seniors what will happen with this $270 billion in 
Medicare cuts.
  One plan, though, that the Republicans are floating is a voucher 
plan, which basically limits the health care coverage of senior 
citizens. This voucher plan would basically give seniors substandard 
health care unless they have a lot of money and can afford their own 
health coverage. Essentially, a senior will be told that once he has 
used up the voucher, that he will have to pay for health care insurance 
out of his own pocket, and I am afraid, Mr. Speaker, the Republicans do 
not realize that most seniors are on a fixed income and simply will not 
be able to afford the extra cost that will be entailed under this 
proposed voucher program.
  There are other Republican plans that have been discussed that will 
either force senior citizens into HMO's or the managed care systems 
that are like HMO's, and essentially what that does is to tell the 
seniors which doctors they can and they cannot see.
  I have talked to a lot of senior citizens over the last few months 
about some of these alternate plans that Republicans have come up with, 
and most of the senior citizens I represent are very happy with their 
doctors and do not want to be told which doctors that are going to 
serve them. They are very afraid of the fact they will not be able to 
choose their own doctor.
  Nobody really knows exactly what the Republicans are going to do, 
because they have not put specific proposals forward.
  But their proposed Medicare cuts are so large, I
   am convinced it is only going to hurt senior citizens. I am afraid 
the Republicans will end Medicare as we know it, without telling the 
American public the true story of what these $270 billion in cuts are 
ultimately going to mean to them.

  Some estimates figure that seniors will have an additional $1,000 per 
month of our-of-pocket costs to maintain the same health coverage that 
they are currently receiving, and if health costs rise faster than the 
growth in Medicare to seniors, then seniors are either going to get 
less services or pay more money. It is that simple.
  Mr. Speaker, finally, during the last few nights, I have heard 
Republicans state that they are really concerned about saving Medicare 
and that is why they are putting forth these cuts in the program and 
the changes that we are hearing about. But I would maintain that if 
Republicans are truly concerned about saving Medicare and reforming it, 
then they should not be approaching it in the backward way that they 
are approaching it. Republicans are starting with $270 billion in cuts, 
the largest amount of cuts in the history of the Medicare program. 
Then, after they make these cuts, they want to gut Medicare to achieve 
the cost savings.
  The American public should not be fooled by these Republican plans. 
Senior citizens should watch closely over the next few months to see 
what the Republicans do to the existing Medicare program, and the 
Republicans should not be allowed to break Medicare's contract with 
America's seniors.

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