[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 162 (Thursday, October 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H10309]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IT IS TIME TO UPDATE MEDICARE

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, today is a historic day. Today, the House 
will move to preserve and protect Medicare.
  Thirty years ago, on a closed rule, Congress passed a 1960's Blue 
Cross-Blue Shield health care plan called Medicare. Health care has 
progressed 30 years. It has improved. Now it is time to bring Medicare 
up to date.
  If we do not, it is going to go broke. The only way to sustain the 
cumbersome system is to raise payroll taxes $123 billion.
  The Republican plan will preserve and protect Medicare and offer some 
options. If seniors do nothing, they will stay on Medicare. They can 
also select Medicare Plus to expand their coverage through a health 
managed care plan. They can select a medical savings plan to reward 
them for having a healthy lifestyle, or they can select the health care 
plan they had while working under an employer if he chooses to offer 
it.
  Those who oppose updating Medicare are the same folks who said 
schoolchildren would be starving this year. It was reported last night 
they said if we passed this plan, one-fourth of the hospitals in 
America will close.
  Well the schoolchildren are not starving, and the hospitals will not 
close.
  I urge my colleagues to preserve and protect Medicare. Live long and 
prosper.

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