[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 161 (Wednesday, October 18, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H10297-H10298]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MEDICARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. 
Deutsch].
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, again, I appreciate it because I have asked 
four times for my colleagues on the other side to yield for a specific 
question.
  In response to statements that were made from four different of my 
Republican colleagues, I think it is symptomatic that they refuse to 
yield, that they refuse to engage in a dialog on this issue because the 
truth is, the truth is on our side. It is the old maxim: When the truth 
is on your side and you have the facts, that is what you argue. When 
the law is on your side, that is what you argue. And when you have 
nothing, all you do is argue.

[[Page H 10298]]

  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bunn of Oregon). The gentleman from New 
Jersey [Mr. Pallone] controls the time.
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, if we can focus in on this chart, the facts 
are that in the 30 years of the Medicare system, for 12 of those 30 
years there was less of an actuarial life than there is today; less 
than 7 years, 12 of the 30 years. This is not a crisis that all of a 
sudden erupted. That is the nature of insurance programs.
  Contrary to what my colleagues have said, we took some tough votes in 
my first year in the Congress. We took a tough vote to change some of 
the actuarial problems in the system. We can do that again. But we are 
choosing not to. This program that is going to pass this House tomorrow 
has nothing to do with saving Medicare. It is a flat-out lie. The $270 
billion number is a flat-out lie. That has nothing to do with the 
trustee report.
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, no, I will not yield.
  What the Republican plan is doing is creating a false choice for 
Medicare beneficiaries throughout this country. What they are doing 
essentially is a false choice because, if the Medicare reimbursement, 
traditional Medicare, becomes so low and balanced billing is 
eliminated, which it will be, which will allow physicians to charge 
whatever they want, where today they cannot and protect senior 
citizens, over 30 million Americans, when that changes, seniors will be 
forced into HMO's, not by choice. It will be a false choice. They will 
be forced into HMO's.

  Let me just conclude that seniors in this country believe that 
Republicans want to save Medicare probably as much as the Jewish 
community in this country believes that Farrakhan should be the head of 
the Jewish Federation. It is just not a reality. I think this chart and 
the outright distortions that have been made on this floor this evening 
and will be made tomorrow, the numbers speak for themselves.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, let me point out that one of the major 
trustees, Secretary of Treasury Rubin, when he sent a letter to the 
gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt] on September 21, 1995, he said 
in the letter, simply said, ``No Member of Congress should vote for the 
$270 billion of Medicare cuts believing that reductions of this size 
have been recommended by the Medicare trustees or that such reductions 
are needed now to prevent an imminent funding crisis.
                              {time}  2315
  Basically what is happening here, and I will say it again, is that 
this level of cuts, $270 billion, is needed to pay for the $245 billion 
tax cut for the wealthy that the Republicans are going to propose next 
week. Our offices and my office has been flooded with calls and letters 
from senior citizens protesting these cuts. I know one of the previous 
speakers said that seniors should not be scared. They should be scared 
because this is going to devastate the Medicare Program, and if I could 
just point out, I mean I have been getting hundreds, if not thousands, 
of letters. Here are just some of them from my constituents complaining 
and concerned about these Medicare cuts the Republicans are proposing.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not have a lot of time, but I just want to point 
out one thing that I think is really important here tonight and for 
tomorrow when we take the vote on this bill. These cuts in the Medicare 
Program, what they are going to do is squeeze Medicare so much that we 
will no longer be able to provide quality health care in this country 
for senior citizens, and the squeeze, the loss of money in the Medicare 
Program, is going to hurt the health care system across the board in 
New Jersey. We will see hospitals close. We will see services cut from 
hospitals and other providers because there is going to be so little 
money available to the Medicare system.
  The reason I mention that is because today in the State legislature 
in the State of New Jersey in Trenton a number of the Democratic 
legislators took to the floor and pointed out that because of all the 
cuts that the Republicans are making in Medicare what is going to 
happen in New Jersey and probably in a lot of other States in this 
country is that States are going to have to raise taxes to make up for 
the loss in Medicare funds that we are imposing here, and that is 
simply not fair. It is simply not fair to the citizens of New Jersey 
and to a lot of other people around this country when we see this 
Medicare Program deteriorate and States having to make up for the 
funding loss.


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