[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 160 (Tuesday, October 17, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15183-S15184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MEDICARE REFORM

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, with the press and all the reports and the 
dialog continuing on Medicare, I guess for most of us who are trying to 
do some things to reform Medicare, to strengthen it and save the 
program, which has broad-based public support, we have become 
frustrated about what is really at issue here. We know that there have 
been ways devised in order to save and strengthen the program and to 
increase the spending on each beneficiary between now and the year 
2002.
  With those that would be critical of the plan that has been put 
forward and with continuing to call what some would say are cuts in 
Medicare, then maybe we should approach it from a situation that maybe 
if you think it is a big cut, let us just freeze it, let us just freeze 
it at current levels. And I wonder if they would start counting the 
apples that are in their basket.
  You know, it seems to me that math is a funny subject to study. But, 
nonetheless, if you have 48 apples in your basket, and by the year 2002 
we are going to add some apples to that basket to where you have 67, in 
other words, 2\1/2\ apples--that is pretty tough to do, add a half 
apple a year to your basket--that does not sound like a cut to me. It 
sounds like an increase to me. But the cost per beneficiary will go 
from $4,800 presently being spent per beneficiary to $6,700 in the year 
2002. That is under the plan that is presently called for in the budget 
resolution that passed this body and this Congress.
  What started this whole debate is right here, this little report. Now 
we cannot get very many of them because they did not print very many of 
them. But it is the status of Social Security and Medicare programs 
done by the trustees, of which four of the seven are President 
Clinton's own appointees.
  They said it pretty plainly, ``The Medicare Program is clearly 
unsustainable in its present form''--in this little report.
  There have been other reports that have come out in the past that 
said Social Security will run out of money. Other reports say, in 2 
years, Medicare will run out of money. Those reports are OK, but this 
one is a little bit different because next year is the first time in 
the history of the Medicare Program, which is 30 years old this year, 
the first time when we will be spending more money in outlays to the 
beneficiaries than we have money coming in--for the first time. That 
changes the debate a little bit, and it also should change the way we 
look at this problem and the way we want to deal with it.
  So the trustees say we have to do something about Medicare. Secretary 
of Health and Human Services Shalala, Secretary Reich of Labor, 
Secretary Rubin of Treasury, Commissioner of Social Security, Shirley 
Chater, all appointees of President Clinton, said:

       We feel strongly that comprehensive Medicare reforms should 
     be undertaken to make this program financially sound now and 
     over the long term.

  We went through a situation in Montana, when I was a county 
commissioner, of falling property values. We had an initiative passed 
in Montana that froze all property taxes, the mills that we could levy, 
and we were in pretty tough straits trying to finance county 
government. That may not sound very important to us who work in this 
town but, nonetheless, the people who live in our counties and our 
cities across the Nation would say that is pretty important because 
that operates our schools, takes care of our sheriff departments, 
public safety, our roads, bridges.
  You had to act then to make some adjustments to our outlays, or we 
would find ourselves in financial difficulty that we could not get 
ourselves out of. If you do not take into consideration that next year 
we will be paying out more than taking in, and as that escalates, 
pretty soon if we go 2 or 3 years, then you will find even this 
Government will be incapable of dealing with the debt that has been 
created by overextension of payments out of the Medicare Program.
  So, basically, what they said was that we had to take some actions 
now.
  Let me show another chart. They also said:

       We strongly recommend that the crisis presented by the 
     financial condition of the Medicare trust funds be urgently 
     addressed on a comprehensive basis, including a review of the 
     program's financing methods, benefit provisions, and delivery 
     mechanisms.

  In other words, let us take a look at the whole program, and we tried 
to do that.

       Today, Medicaid and Medicare are going up three times the 
     rate of inflation. We propose to let it go up at two times 
     the rate of inflation. That is not a Medicare or Medicaid 
     cut. So when you hear all this business about cuts, let me 
     caution you that is not what is going on. We are going to 
     have increases in Medicare and Medicaid, and a reduction in 
     the rate of growth.

  Guess who said that? President Clinton, October 5, 1993.
  Who is fooling whom? We have to take a look at all of it. This is 
what the President wants. He is saying, let us limit the growth to 7 
percent; the budget resolution says 6.4. We have an area where we can 
really, really compromise and come up with a program. 

[[Page S 15184]]

  So we have established that there are not going to be any cuts in 
Medicare. So how do we deal with it? We say, ``Mr. President, that is 
exactly what we have proposed in this Congress.'' So how is it that 
President Clinton proposes a reduced growth rate and it seems 
acceptable and yet, when the Republicans propose the exact same thing, 
it is splashed all over papers and televisions and all across our 
States by the folks on the other side of the aisle as ``devastating 
cuts.'' I think it is time for a little fairness here, and I also 
advise all of us, you cannot have it both ways.
  So if you do not like the cuts, let us just freeze them. Think about 
that for a little bit. We will freeze it at levels right now. I am 
wondering if that will be acceptable to the other side. The senior 
Senator from Montana recently wrote a guest column in the Missoula 
paper. He said, ``There is no crisis here.'' Their report clearly 
states the crisis needs to be urgently addressed. It does not say we 
should start to think about maybe making some changes. It says now is 
the time to do it. That is, deal with it when we have the ability to 
deal with it. We cannot stick our heads in the sand, not for very long 
anyway, because you know what is exposed the most.
  We have to worry about the financing. Any savings in this plan--any 
savings--even in part B, goes back into the plan. It can go nowhere 
else. It must stay in the system of Medicare, either part A, which is 
the hospital trust fund, or part B, which is the dollars. It has to 
stay there. Any savings goes back into the plan. It can go nowhere 
else. It can finance no other part of government. So the trustees' 
report requires us to act.
  Anyone who says otherwise is not being very candid with the American 
people. It is not being very honest if we are to preserve the system 
while expanding the choices the beneficiaries will have if we do 
nothing at all. With the proposal now on the table, spending continues 
to increase around 6.4 percent a year. That is twice the rate of 
inflation. That means spending per beneficiary will go from $4,800 a 
year to $6,700 in just 7 short years. And I ask you, can that be a cut?
  So when the other side and the media say we are cutting Medicare to 
give tax cuts to the rich--we have heard all about that--it sells good 
but it ``ain't'' necessarily so. In fact, it is not so.
  A colleague of mine recently remarked the new Democratic mascot 
should be the ostrich. We do not want to get into a situation like 
that.
  I also heard the expression other day that maybe it is not Medicare, 
maybe it is ``Mediscare.'' Every day is Halloween for the other side, 
because they just like to scare folks.
  Mr. President, I say to my colleagues, we are trying to be honest 
with America, just honest with America. Get the figures down and make 
sure that we do what this report says we should do and also maybe 
accept some leadership from our President who said, yes, we have to do 
some things, and he said it on October 5, 1993.
  I do not think he is too far off the mark, and I do not think America 
thinks that either. I know we do not, and we have undertaken this very, 
very seriously.
  Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of my time, and I yield the 
floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who seeks time?
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be recognized 
for up to 15 minutes following the presentation of the Senator from 
Missouri.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Missouri is recognized.

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