[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 129 (Friday, August 4, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8513]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                REPUBLICAN MEDICARE SPENDING REDUCTIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Hawaii [Mrs. Mink] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express deep concern 
about proposed Republican Medicare spending cuts.
  All the evidence--an increasing Medicare-aged population, extended 
life expectancies, and inflation--points to Medicare costs rising 7.7 
percent per year. Yet, the Republicans are budgeting for only a 5.8 
percent per year Medicare growth rate. Holding the Medicare growth rate 
to 5.8 percent ignores the fact that the percentage of older and less 
healthy Medicare recipients is increasing. Since 1966, the percentage 
of Medicare recipients in the various age groups has undergone the 
following changes:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   Age group                        1965       Present  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
85 and older..................................            7           11
80-84.........................................           10           13
75-79.........................................           20           20
70-74.........................................           28           26
65-69.........................................           34           30
------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The resulting gap between Medicare funding and Medicare costs will 
reduce the scope and quality of medical care provided. There is no 
other way.
  The Republican budget does little to contain rising medical costs. 
Instead, it simply cuts the amount of Federal Government will have to 
pay to cover these costs. By ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries will 
have fewer benefits, the Republicans will undo much of what Medicare 
has accomplished over the past 30 years. These accomplishments are 
astounding, and include:
  (A) Dropping the poverty rate among seniors from 30 percent to just 
12 percent;
  (B) Increasing the rate of health care coverage for seniors from 50 
percent to 97 percent;
  (C) Extending health care coverage to seniors most in need as 
evidenced by the fact that 83 percent of Medicare recipients earn less 
than $25,000;
  (D) Increasing access to health care for minorities by ending the 
pre-Medicare practice of certain hospitals and nursing homes of denying 
treatment to minorities;
  (E) Reducing the rate of heart- and stroke-related deaths by 40 
percent and 63 percent, respectively, between 1960 and 1991; and
  (F) Extending life expectancies for women who live to 65 from 16 to 
19 years and for men who live to 65 from 13 years to 16 years since 
1965.
  Republicans argue that they are saving--not dismantling--Medicare. 
They say Medicare spending must be reduced drastically. They cite the 
recent Medicare trustees report which indicates that the Medicare trust 
fund may be broke in 2002. What the Republicans don't say is that every 
Medicare trustees report has predicted the trust fund's impending 
insolvency. The 1970 report predicted insolvency in 1972, the 1972 
report picked 1976, the 1982 report said 1987, an so on. Congress acted 
to avoid the impending insolvency following the release of those 
reports. And, each time Congress acted, it did not have to cut back on 
Medicare benefits to the elderly. Furthermore, the recent trustees 
report advises that the financial standing of the Medicare trust fund 
could cover a wider span of years. In other words, the trustees report 
states that the trust fund could become insolvent in 2002--in 7 years--
or in the year 2006--in 11 years--or 2009--in 14 years. Given that the 
recent Medicare trustees report predicts trust fund's insolvency in 
different years and the fact that the dire consequences of insolvency 
predicted in earlier trustees report have not occurred, I believe the 
Republican use of the recent Medicare trustees report is both 
exploitative and unjustified. The report has been used by Republicans 
who had to find some way to pay for their tax cuts that will, in large 
part, benefit mainly the Nation's top 1 percent of income earners. 
There is little doubt that the Republicans are slashing Medicare 
spending by $270 billion solely to pay for their $245 billion tax cut. 
If the Republicans' objective was to improve Medicare's financial 
condition, they would be proposing much smaller Medicare spending 
reductions, and recommending instead cost containment proposals.
  I respectfully submit that if the Republicans are truly serious about 
saving Medicare, their budget plan would seek to contain rising medical 
medical costs rather than just hold down what the Federal Government 
will pay for such costs. The proposed Republican Medicare spending 
reductions of $270 billion is difficult to comprehend and impossible to 
justify.
  The American public must not be fooled into thinking that these cuts 
are necessary to save Medicare from insolvency. These monstrous cuts 
are solely to pay for the Republican tax cuts.
  It must not be allowed to happen.
  

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