[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 167 (Thursday, October 26, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2060-E2061]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MEDICARE PRESERVATION ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                               speech of

                          HON. MELVIN L. WATT

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 19, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2425) to 
     amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve and 
     reform the Medicare Program,:

  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong 
opposition to H.R. 2425, the Medicare Preservation Act, which proposes 
to cut Medicare by $270 billion over 7 years. These drastic cuts are 
the largest cuts ever proposed for the Medicare Program and will have a 
devastating impact on 999,000 North Carolinians who rely on Medicare to 
help pay for their Medical bills.
  These cuts in Medicare are real. More than $2 billion will be lost in 
the 10 counties in my congressional district. The average Medicare 
beneficiary in North Carolina will see their out-of-pocket costs 
increase by an average of $2,400 in 2002. How can we expect senior 
citizens who have worked and paid taxes all their lives and now live on 
fixed-incomes to afford the additional out-of-pocket costs associated 
with this cut? This Medicare plan will raise the average premium for 
North Carolinians by $18 per year and it may even force many of them to 
give up their doctor. Those are not choices, those are mandates.
  The cuts in Medicare are greatly magnified by the proposal to cut 
Medicaid by $182 billion over 7 years. The impact on North Carolina 
will be severe. Eight States including North Carolina will bear almost 
half of the $182 billion in Medicaid cuts. North Carolina will lost 
$8.5 billion over 7 years. This proposal, which we will consider on the 
House floor next week, amounts to a 40 percent overall cut from what 
North Carolina would receive under current levels. This is not shared 
sacrifice. This is an assault on the people of North Carolina. 

[[Page E2061]]
These cuts will be difficult to justify to over 490,000 children in 
North Carolina who are on Medicaid.
  While proposing these drastic cuts to Medicare, Republicans also want 
to provide a $245 billion tax cut which is designed to 
disproportionately benefit the rich. In order to pay for the tax cut, 
Republicans are cutting Medicare by three times the amount that is 
necessary to keep the Medicare Trust Fund solvent through the year 
2002. While I agree with some of my colleagues who argue that we need 
to balance the budget, I do not agree with those who argue that we can 
balance the budget and give a tax beak to the rich. The first priority 
of Congress should be to balance the budget and eliminate the Federal 
deficit, not cut Medicare to pay for a tax cut. We simply cannot afford 
to finance a tax cut on the backs of the elderly and the poor.
  This bill punishes and jeopardizes the health of our most vulnerable 
children, the elderly and the poor. This bill does nor save Medicare, 
it dismantles it. I urge all my colleagues to reject this shameful bill 
and to support the Gibbons-Dingell Substitute.

                          ____________________