[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9251]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ELIMINATING THE FRAUD AND ABUSE WHICH RIDDLES MEDICAID

  (Mrs. SEASTRAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. SEASTRAND. Mr. Speaker, for years the liberal Congresses have 
been mandating States to spend billions of dollars on programs. I know 
because I served in the California State Legislature. One such program 
is Medicaid, which now consumes nearly one-fifth of our State's 
budgets. This coupled with the fact that $16 billion a year from this 
program is lost to fraud and abuse demonstrates the need for genuine 
reform.
  Republicans know that more Washington bureaucracy is not the 
prescription to save this program. That is why the legislation which we 
are introducing will give more freedom to State and local officials. 
And recipients need not fear that they will lose benefits. Our 
resolution will increase funding to the States by 39 percent over the 
next 7 years.
  Only by dismantling the oversized, inefficient Washington bureaucracy 
can we eliminate the fraud and abuse which riddles Medicaid. Only by 
increasing funding to the States can we heal this ailing program.


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