[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 145 (Monday, September 18, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MEDISCAM, NOT MEDISCARE

  (Mr. WYNN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, in this town it seems it is always good to 
have a catch phrase. The latest catch phrase is ``Mediscare,'' 
Mediscare, as though the cuts in Medicare were not really serious or 
not really painful. I think they are.
  First, if you consider a premium increase of $32 a month on a senior, 
I think that is pretty serious and pretty scary. If you consider that 
seniors will be forced to choose a doctor they can afford as opposed to 
the doctor they trust, I think that is pretty scary, when a senior is 
contemplating major surgery.
  Third, if you contemplate the likely possibility that some hospitals 
will have to shut down, reduce services, or pass costs on to private 
patients, insured with private insurance, I think that is pretty scary.
  When you hear the term ``Mediscare,'' it should not be taken lightly. 
People say we have to do this to save the system. The trustees and the 
President suggest what we need is a modification, maybe $90 to $120 
billion. But the Republicans are proposing $270 billion. Why? So they 
can give a tax break to their rich friends.
  If you make $300,000, under this plan you are going to get back 
$20,000 in tax breaks. This $270 billion is not going back to save the 
trust fund. Not a penny will go back to the trust fund.
  They mumble about the general fund. Translation: it is siphoned off 
for a tax break for the wealthy.
  No, ladies and gentleman, the term should not be ``Mediscare.'' It 
should be, ``Mediscam,'' because that is what the American people are 
being subjected to in the latest Republican proposal on Medicare.

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