[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 153 (Thursday, September 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE EFFECTS OF A $270 BILLION CUT IN MEDICARE

  (Mr. PAYNE of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, in a few weeks this House will 
have a profound choice. We can cut $270 billion from the Medicare 
Program, or we can scrap big tax cuts and move forward with a reasoned 
program of Medicare reform.
  Many of my constituents have made that choice. I have spoken to 
hundreds of them, both elderly and young people, about Medicare. They 
have looked at this budget and decided that it is unfair to pay for big 
tax cuts at the expense of health care for the elderly.
  Mr. Speaker, I toured hospitals that are typical of the 13 rural 
hospitals in my district. One administrator told me that 56 percent of 
his facility's revenues are derived from Medicare and that Medicaid 
accounts for another 13 percent. This hospital is 50 miles from another 
acute care facility and, like many rural hospitals, it operates at the 
margins.
  The hospital administrator told me that if cuts of the magnitude 
being proposed now in the Republican plan are adopted, they could well 
force this facility to close. Where will the elderly go then? If we 
move forward recklessly or cut too deeply just to pay for a tax cut, we 
will do irreparable damage.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge this body to move responsibly and to reject $270 
billion in cuts in Medicare.

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