[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 142 (Wednesday, September 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H8811-H8812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      SAVE AND STRENGTHEN MEDICARE

  (Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, the President's appointed 
trustees have warned that Medicare will go bankrupt by 2002. If we do 
nothing, seniors' out-of-pocket costs will 

[[Page H 8812]]
rise and Medicare will be bankrupt in just 7 years.
  Mr. Speaker, if we raise payroll taxes, as we have done 23 times in 
27 years, we will force our children and grandchildren to pay more now 
for seniors' health care and Medicare will still go bankrupt before our 
children and grandchildren can retire and gain any benefits.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot wait. The problem will not go away. The only 
solution is to introduce choice for seniors and competition among 
health care providers. Choice and competition always do two things in 
our free enterprise system: They lower costs and improve quality.
  Medicare is far too important to turn it into Medi-scare. Republicans 
are asking Democrats, please, join us to save and strengthen Medicare.

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