[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 123 (Thursday, July 27, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7807]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      A SORRY BIRTHDAY GREETING FOR MEDICARE ON ITS 30TH BIRTHDAY

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. It is the 30th birthday of Medicare, Mr. Speaker. What 
we have heard again this morning are birthday greetings for Medicare 
recipients from our Republican colleagues. It all boils down to a 
single sentence: They are saying to the older Americans of this 
country, ``If you will pay more for your health care, we will give you 
less health care.'' That is a pretty sorry birthday greeting, so they 
had to hire a public relations firm, and I have their report here, to 
tell them, ``Don't talk about improving Medicare. We can't afford to 
raise expectations, but keep in mind that seniors are very PAC-oriented 
and very susceptible to being led.'' That is what the Republican public 
relations firm told them to tell older Americans.
  Then they came up with a Medicare pledge from a so-called Seniors 
Coalition. What that pledge says is, when you read between the lines, 
``Raise the deductible, raise the premiums, pay more, and get less, Mr. 
And Mrs. Older American.'' That is a sorry birthday greeting for 
Medicare. When Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law, he signed a 
candle of hope, and we cannot have that candle extinguished by this 
Republican initiative.

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