[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 6, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S883-S884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    SAVING MEDICARE FROM BANKRUPTCY

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, every once in a while, when we take 
defeat after defeat because of a Presidential veto--and I think the 
President has vetoed half of the appropriations bills that we have 
passed this year. Oddly enough, most Presidents veto appropriations 
bills because the Congress is wasting money. This is the first 
President I know who is vetoing appropriations bills because we are not 
spending enough money. And yet he is talking to the Governors' 
association this morning about how he is going to balance the budget, 
and he vetoes the appropriations bills that are balancing the budget. 
But anyway, once in a while we get an opportunity to say we were right. 
In this particular case, this Balanced Budget Act of 1995 was right 
because one of the major provisions of this Balanced Budget Act of 
1995, which we would have had to do unrelated to balancing the budget 
or even unrelated to tax decreases, was to save Medicare from 
bankruptcy. This document not only saved Medicare from bankruptcy, it 
strengthened Medicare, and it also gave for the first time the elderly 
people of America, the senior citizens of America, the retired people 
of America, those who rely upon Medicare as their primary health 
insurance group, an opportunity to have something different than just a 
Government-run program.
  They could have had medical savings accounts. They could have had 
continued a union or association plan where they last worked. They 
could have bought into managed care, and they would be able to go from 
traditional Medicare to a medical savings account and back next year if 
they wanted to. They could go from traditional Medicare to a managed 
care plan and try that for a year and go back and not cost them 
anything, but have that option through a voucher of having Medicare pay 
for whatever their option is.
  It is the same thing that we have in the Congress. Every December we 
have what is called--I do not remember the terminology--but we have a 
season that we can change from one program to another. We are giving 
them the same thing Congress has, the same thing Federal civil servants 
have.
  Once again, the President vetoed this in early December 1995. So our 
efforts to save, our efforts to strengthen and our efforts to give 
seniors choice for the first time went down the drain.
  We did it because the trustees in April said Medicare was going to be 
busted, bankrupt in the year 2002, 7 years from now. That is why we did 
what we did in this. I do not know why the President vetoed it. Does he 
want it to go bankrupt, or does he want a political issue? I do not 
know why, but he did.
  Yesterday, we had in the New York Times something that should have 
probably been released to the public back in October. Why it was not 
until now I do not know. I hope there was no coverup on the part of the 
administration to keep it from being published.
  We have a report from HCFA's chief actuary that Medicare lost money 
in 1995 for the first time in 23 years. It is a 29-year-old program. So 
early on, it had another period of 1 year when it spent more than it 
took in.
  But now for the first time in 24 years, Medicare is spending out more 
than it is bringing in in taxes, which emphasizes what the trustees 
said in April of 

[[Page S884]]
last year. They pleaded with Congress. They pleaded with the Republican 
Congress: ``Take action right now because it is going to be easier to 
do it now than it will be in the year 2001 or 2002 when it is just 
about ready to go under.'' This had not been anticipated to occur until 
1997.
  What we learn now through the newspapers, the chief actuary giving 
this report last year, is the Medicare hospital trust fund lost $35.7 
million. In other words, it took in that much less than we had 
anticipated.
  He was not sure when part A would be depleted, but he did say that it 
could be earlier than 2002.
  In any case, according to the actuary, this recent finding does not 
help the trust fund. It gives more insecurity to the people on Social 
Security and it, of course, emphasizes what we were trying to say when 
we passed this Balanced Budget Act of 1995 which saved Medicare.
  So I hope that the President comes around to a point of view of 
cooperating with the Congress to a greater extent than he has on the 
saving of Medicare, because this is one time the Republican Congress is 
way ahead of the White House.
  I yield the floor, and 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. HATFIELD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The 
Senator from Oregon.

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