[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 126 (Tuesday, August 1, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MEDICARE REFORM IS A BIPARTISAN ISSUE

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, it has been almost 4 months now that the 
trustees of the Medicare plan, the Clinton trustees, have come out with 
a report saying that Medicare is going broke in the year 2002. About 2 
months ago President Clinton said:

       We cannot leave the system the way it is . . . when you 
     think about what the baby boomers require . . . that's going 
     to require significant long-term structural adjustment. We'll 
     have to look at what we can do there. But the main thing we 
     can't do--we can't have this thing go broke in the meanwhile.

  I think, certainly, this is a very significant thing for all of us to 
realize, that Congress must, No. 1, fix Medicare. No. 2, we have got to 
do it in a fair way. It cannot be done on the back of one group over 
another one. No. 3, we have to save the system by strengthening it and 
preserving it. The proposal that we have in our budget is to increase 
spending per recipient from $4,800 today to $6,700 in the year 2002. We 
are also probably going to have options on Medisave accounts, a choice 
of doctor, managed care plans, and so forth.
  I think the most important thing for right now is for us to 
acknowledge that Medicare is going broke. It is a bipartisan problem. 
We welcome the ideas of all the Democrats, Republicans, and senior 
citizens throughout our great country.

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