[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 126 (Tuesday, August 1, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H8141-H8142]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1800
                      WE MUST KEEP MEDICARE AFLOAT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Metcalf). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Gutknecht] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, author Stephen Covey likes to tell a 
story about the Navy captain of a ship who is adrift in a rather stormy 
sea one night and he saw a light coming at him. He orders his signalman 
to contact the oncoming vessel and ask him to change course 20 degrees. 
So the message is sent out, and very quickly a message comes back, 
``You change course 20 degrees.'' The captain is a little upset by this 
message coming back, 

[[Page H8142]]
so he sends back and says, ``This is a U.S. naval battleship. We demand 
that you change course 20 degrees.'' The message comes back, ``We are 
the lighthouse.''
  Mr. Speaker, I think the story is analogous to the problem we have 
with Medicare. Right now the message is coming back that we are on a 
collision course with disaster. We are headed for the rocks, and 
unfortunately, the Medicare system is picking up speed.
  In the private sector, we are seeing in the general economy inflation 
rates of about 3 percent. What we are seeing with Medicare is about 
10\1/2\ percent. We all know, at least I think we all know, if we do 
not know, in fact it is available in a little yellow booklet that is 
being distributed, the board of trustees of the Medicare trust fund 
came out several months ago with a report, and in it they said many 
things. I think it is important that Members of this body and Members 
of the general public be as informed as possible about what they in 
fact said.
  Let me read some of the quotes. For example, they said, ``The 
Medicare program is clearly unsustainable in its present form.'' They 
went on to say, ``It is now clear that Medicare reform needs to be 
addressed urgently as a distinct legislative initiative.'' They said, 
``We feel strongly that a comprehensive Medicare reform should be 
undertaken to make this program financially sound now and in the long 
term.''
  The message is coming out loudly and clearly from our own lighthouse 
that Medicare is on a collision course with disaster. Yet some folks 
tend to pretend that nothing is wrong and that we do not have to change 
course. In fact, the board's report stated: ``Under a range of 
plausible and demographic assumptions, the HI Medicare program is 
severely out of financial balance in the short range, adding that the 
HI fund fails the solvency test by a wide margin.''
  Mr. Speaker, I would encourage anyone who is watching on television 
at home or other Members who are watching in their offices, if they do 
want a copy they can call 202-225-3121 and get the number of their 
Member. I know that the Government Printing Office is running a bit 
behind in terms of keeping up with the demand for these reports, but I 
think it is important that if people would like to get a copy for 
themselves, they can read for themselves about what the Medicare 
trustees have said about the future of Medicare.
  Mr. Speaker, that is the bad news, but unfortunately, it gets worse. 
Not only does the fund begin to spend more money than it takes in just 
next year, and not only does the fund go bankrupt in just 7 years, the 
really bad news is that people my age, I happen to be the peak of the 
baby boomers. As a matter of fact, when I graduated from college, I 
remember the speaker at our commencement address was director of the 
U.S. Census. He told us that there were more kids born in 1951 than any 
other year. The bad news is the baby boomers will start to retire in 
about 15 years. That is going to have a disastrous impact on the 
Medicare fund as we go forward.
  That is why the trustees, Mr. Speaker, have made it so clear that we 
need to change course. Like that battleship, we are getting the clear 
signal that we are headed for the rocks, we are picking up speed, 
things need to change. What we are proposing, really, are modest 
changes in the Medicare system.
  What we are trying to do is work with all of the providers, with 
seniors, with other groups, to try and come up with solutions. The good 
news is if we look at the private sector and what has happened in the 
private sector over just the last 18 months, we see some good examples 
of how costs can be contained. As a matter of fact, before I came to 
this Congress I was a Member of the Minnesota State Legislature. I was 
on the Health and Human Services Committee.
  I remember just a few years ago being told that we were going to see 
double-digit inflation rates in the health care system for as far as 
the eye could see. In the private sector, private insurance carriers, 
private employers, literally sat down and said, ``This simply cannot be 
allowed to continue at this rate,'' so they employed a number of 
different methods to try and control those costs. The good news is we 
have seen virtually zero inflation in the private sector over the last 
18 months in Minnesota, so it can be done.
  We have examples in the private sector with just a little bit of 
working together. I think if the House and Senate can work together, if 
Republicans and Democrats can work together, I am confident that we can 
use some of the same things that have worked so effectively in the 
private sector to control costs here in the public sector, and 
particularly as it relates to Medicare.
  It is an undeniable fact, Mr. Speaker, you cannot sink half of a 
boat. We are all in the same boat together. I think we owe it to 
ourselves, to the taxpayers, to the 36 million current beneficiaries to 
keep this ship afloat.


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