[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15285-H15286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         MEDICARE AND MEDICAID

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Maloney] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland 
[Mr. Wynn].
  Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, let us get straight on these tax figures. The 
gentleman talks about the people who make $30,000. They only get 13 
percent of the total tax break. We could balance this budget and have a 
deal. Cut out the tax breaks for the wealthy. Just give it to the folks 
that make $30,000. They are only getting 13 percent. The rich, over 
$100,000, are getting almost half, almost 50 percent of the tax breaks.
  In addition, they repeal the family tax credit so they are actually 
increasing the taxes on the middle class and working poor. They also 
give another windfall to the rich because they eliminate the 
alternative minimum tax. What does that mean? That means $17 billion to 
the richest corporations in America. That is the truth about the so-
called tax breaks.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North 
Carolina [Mr. Hefner].
  Mr. HEFNER. Mr. Speaker, I want to say to the gentleman from 
Connecticut, he talks about demagoguery, there was a little bit of 
demagoguery that took place on this floor yesterday when they offered 
up the sham on the President's budget that had not been scored. It had 
not been brought here by the President. The President did not request 
it. It did not go to the Committee on Rules. It had not one day of 
hearing, not reported out of any committee. There were no comments on 
it. The gentleman from Connecticut, Mr. SHAYS, has been around here a 
long time. He knows that was a sham to embarrass the President of the 
United States, and we are better than that.
  I could not let him get away with saying that all those Members voted 
against the President's budget, because it was a sham and it was a 
disgrace to the most deliberative body in this country.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, the American people do not just want a 
balanced budget.

  They want a balanced balanced budget.
  And the Republican budget--which the President is rightfully 
resisting--is an unbalanced balanced budget.
  The Republican budget is unfairly balanced on the backs of seniors on 
Medicare.
  It is unfairly balanced on the backs of the poor, the disabled and 
middle class families whose parents benefit from Medicaid.
  It is unfairly balanced on the backs of the children of our public 
schools and students with student loans.
  The Republican budget is a load off the backs of corporate welfare 
recipients, defense contractors, polluters, and all the other 
Republican special interest groups.
  No issue more clearly divides Democrats and Republicans than Medicare 
and Medicaid reform.
  The proposal to block grant Medicaid takes away the guarantee that 
poor people will receive health care.
  At this time in history--when the gap between rich and poor is wider 
than ever--that is inexcusable.
  The block grant proposal is predicated on a blind-faith fantasy, that 
States will come up with a magic formula, to do much more in health 
care for the poor with much less money.
  If there are any such miracle cures to health care in New York State, 
I've certainly never heard of them.
  And neither has anyone else in the New York hospital system.
  What's more, this block grant proposal has no flexibility.
  It will be most effective in providing health care for the poor 
during good economic times, and least effective in recessions, when 
America needs Medicaid most.
  That stands the very purpose of Medicaid on its head.
  The Republican Medicare plan is just as reckless, and just as cruel.
  Cutting $270 billion out of a program that needs a $90 billion cut to 
remain solvent--and is so important to so many seniors--is outrageous.
  Just as this proposal will hurt Medicaid and Medicare clients/it will 
also devastate Medicaid and Medicare providers.
  Estimates vary, but it is clear that if the Republican plans are 
enacted, New York State will lose between $40 and $50 billion dollars.
  That would endanger the very survival of literally every public 
hospital in New York City.
  Two provisions are of particular  concern to the city and State of 
New York 

[[Page H15286]]
under the Republican Medicare proposal.

  They are programs which took decades to evolve and refine.
  If they are gutted by these senseless cuts, these programs will be 
virtually impossible to reconstruct.
  The proposal to cut formulas for Medicare graduate medical education 
and disproportionate share payments would devastate New York's 
hospitals.
  Fifteen percent of all medical residents in the America are educated 
in New York metropolitan area hospitals.
  New York City's hospitals also serve an unusually high proportion of 
special needs patients: the elderly, the disabled, the chronically ill, 
and the poor.
  Overall Medicare payment rates determine indirect Medical education 
and disproportionate share payments.
  If those payments are reduced because of smaller inflation 
adjustments, New York's hospitals would be hit with a double whammy.
  Graduate Medical Education would be further devastated by new 
restrictions on training international residents, who comprise 45 
percent of all residents.
  What country a resident comes from is unimportant as long as he or 
she is saving American lives.
  New York's world-renowned hospital system is struggling to stay 
afloat TODAY.
  These cuts are far in excess of what that system can absorb without 
catastrophic consequences.
  Medicaid cuts will especially hurt New York nursing homes and other 
long-term care providers, who rely on Medicaid for 90 percent of all 
payments.
  That will trickle down to middle class families, who could be 
bankrupted by simply giving their parents quality care in their old 
age.
  Mr. Speaker, it comes down to this.
  New York State, with 7 percent of the population, would absorb 11 
percent of the cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.
  New York City, with 2.9 percent of the population, would absorb 6.5 
percent of these cuts.
  These numbers don't just represent dollars.
  These numbers represent lives.
  Thousands of lives lost, ruined or needlessly compromised.
  There are numbers in this budget that we can cut which will NOT 
represent lives.
  It's time to spare these critically important health care programs 
for our seniors, our poor, our disabled and our people.

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