[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 148 (Thursday, September 21, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H9405-H9406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HEARINGS ARE NEEDED ON MEDICARE REFORM PROPOSALS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, I have come to the floor to talk a bit 
about what my biggest fear as a Member has always been, and that has 
been not being prepared.
  Mr. Speaker, it is so difficult to try very hard to find out what is 
going on and to be prepared. I was trained as an attorney, and I 
learned you never step into a courtroom, you never do anything without 
being prepared.
  Well, let me tell my colleagues in this Medicare-Medicaid debate, 
there is no way anyone can be prepared. Here we are on the eve of the 1 
day of hearings that they are going to grant on Medicare, and there is 
still no bill. There is still no bill.
  So, if we wanted to go to those hearings tomorrow and be prepared, I 
do not know how we would do it. Today, they released 60 pages of 
conceptual language, but there are no numbers. How do we know if they 
add up or do not add up? We do not know what the Congressional Budget 
Office is saying.
  Mr. Speaker, I think that this is playing very fast and loose and I 
am very troubled, because if I were an average American watching this 
and watched the barbs being traded back and forth across the aisle, 
they are filled with both bravado and bluster and everything else. But 
the bottom line is there is no there there. They do not have a real 
bill there.
  The same thing has happened with Medicaid. On Medicaid we did not 
have even 1 day of hearings. They just moved immediately into a markup. 
We are beginning to find out what is coming out of that markup, which 
is really 

[[Page H 9406]]
fairly frightening. If we look at Medicaid, there are 18 million 
children that rely on Medicaid for their health care. There are 6 
million disabled relying on Medicaid for their health care. Overall, 
there are 36 million Americans relying on Medicaid for health care.
  Now, the numbers. It looks like they are going to cut my State of 
Colorado back by about a third. So what happens? How do you treat two-
thirds of a child? How do you treat two-thirds of a disabled person? 
Where do you pick up the difference? How do you do this?
  Well, there were no hearings. People from my area were not allowed to 
come forward. We had many people who would like to and, of course, we 
are going to see the same act tomorrow when it comes to Medicare.

  When we look at Medicare, there are 37 million Americans that are 
affected by Medicare. Now, when I add 36 million for Medicaid and 37 
million for Medicare, I end up with 73 million Americans. And we are 
holding the future of their health care in our hands as legislators.
  Mr. Speaker, I find it really outrageous, as we hold the future of 
their health care in our hands, that we do not have a real bill; that 
we are not having real hearings; that we are not having people with the 
expertise in delivering this care looking at real bills to find out if 
they will really work.
  Mr. Speaker, I would never say that I totally understand how this 
whole thing works. None of us can possibly understand every specialty 
that we have to deal with. That is what hearings are about. Otherwise, 
we could save a lot of money and never have hearings on anything.
  So 73 million people, as I add these two numbers together, have got 
to be wondering what is happening. And I must say, I am very frustrated 
that tomorrow our side of the aisle has got to start alternative 
hearings out in the yard somewhere, and hope it does not rain, because 
we have not been able to get even a room assignment to do this.
  Now, really, I think when we look at all the other things this body 
has had time to do, when we look at something this serious, we really 
should be going in with many more facts.

                              {time}  1400

  Yes, I have heard people on that side saying, ``You are just to 
trying to do Mediscare.'' We do not want to do Mediscare. But you start 
being very scared if nobody gives you the details. The devil is always 
in the details. You, also, worry very much about what the end result is 
going to be.
  Whenever you ask a question, someone says, ``Well, what is your 
plan?'' The President put our plan out there. The people know what our 
plan is.
  Then the other side continually says, ``We are just trying to save 
it.'' Our question is: Maybe they are trying to kill it. But if it is 
so harmless, if they have found this wonderful way they are going to 
save all of this money without paying, why are they holding it? I would 
think the hearings this side of the aisle has been asking for and the 
201 Members of this body have asked for, I would think they would love 
those hearings because people will be coming and saying, ``Hosanna, how 
wonderful that they got all of this together.''
  So I really hope there is more than the 1 day of hearings, and I 
think it is a very sad day when we are forced to go outdoors and have 
alternative hearings without even a real bill.

                          ____________________