[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 153 (Thursday, September 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  WHY CUT $270 BILLION FROM MEDICARE?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Clyburn] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, we have heard quite a bit of debate in 
recent weeks over Medicare and then $270 billion cut that we are 
proposing to make in Medicare.
  Of course every time I begin discussion of this with various people, 
I am asked time and time again to give the difference in what we are 
talking about as we talk about part A and part B.
  I want to take just a moment, Mr. Speaker, to talk about those two 
separate parts, to explain the difference so that people out there 
listening will get an idea of what we are talking about, because it is 
very important for them to understand that all of this debate that we 
are undertaking here sometimes has very little to do with what really 
ails them.
  Medicare has two separate parts, Medicare part A and Medicare part B. 
Medicare part A is the Medicare hospital insurance program which mostly 
covers inpatient hospital stays. Medicare part A is financed through 
the Medicare trust fund. Like Social Security, employers and workers 
pay into the Medicare trust fund while an individual is working through 
a dedicated payroll tax, a 1.45-percent tax paid by employers and a 
1.45-percent tax paid by workers.
  Medicare part B is the Medicare medical insurance program which 
covers such other medical services as doctor services, hospital 
outpatient services, clinical, laboratories, and durable medical 
equipment. Medicare part B is financed in a completely different way 
than Medicare part A. Medicare part B is financed through a combination 
of premiums paid by Medicare beneficiaries and general revenue.
  As we listen to all this debate about insolvency, the American public 
must understand that it is only the Medicare part A trust fund that 
faces an insolvency problem in the year 2002. However, we recently 
heard from the administrator of this program that the insolvency 
problem could be solved with a modification or a correction or a 
reform, if you would like to call it that, of $89 billion. That would 
keep this program solvent through the year 2002.
  We must then ask the question, if the administrator says that that is 
all that is required, why then are we pushing $270 billion in 
modifications to this program?
  I say, Mr. Speaker, that we are doing that simply to cover the cost 
of this $240 billion tax cut that we are proposing to give to those who 
do not need it. In fact, the bulk of that tax cut will go to people who 
make over $100,000 a year, most of whom that I talk to as I visit my 
district tell me they are not asking for a tax cut, they do not need a 
tax cut, and they do not want a tax cut.
  So, then, why are we doing it?
  There are two things being lost in all of this. One, of course, is 
Medicaid, a $182 billion cut in Medicaid, programs for the poor.

                              {time}  1815

  What is going to happen when we undertake that cut? Well, it means 
that a lot of people who today find themselves using services like 
stays-in-homes are going to find themselves without the ability to do 
that, and that means that many young couples, young families, are going 
to find themselves hard-pressed to take care of the elderly when the 
Government gets out of that business.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this time offered me, and I want to say 
that I hope, as we go forward with this debate, that we will continue 
to educate the American people as to the difference between part A and 
part B.

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