[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 23, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3893-S3894]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                MEDICARE

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, 2 years ago, the Medicare trustees--three of 
whom are members of the President's Cabinet--reported to President 
Clinton and Congress that Medicare would be bankrupt by the year 2002.
  From the day the Medicare trustees issued their report, Republicans 
have worked to preserve and strengthen Medicare. We proposed to do this 
not by cutting Medicare--but by slowing its rate of growth. Under the 
Republican plan adopted by Congress, annual spending per Medicare 
beneficiary would increase from $4,800 this year to more than $7,200 in 
2002.
  If you believed what President Clinton and some of my friends on the 
other side of the aisle had to say, however, you would have thought 
that instead of increasing Medicare spending from $4,800 per 
beneficiary to $7,200 per beneficiary, Republicans were trying to throw 
America's seniors out on the streets. And to the President's credit as 
a public speaker, a lot of Americans believed what he was saying.
  There is, however, a very big difference between leading and 
misleading. Republicans chose to lead--and we suffered in the polls 
because of it. President Clinton chose to mislead--and he gained in the 
polls because of it.
  But as a story in this morning's New York Times makes very clear, the 
President's gain came at the expense of the millions and millions of 
Americans who depend on Medicare.
  The story reveals the fact that Medicare's hospital insurance trust 
fund, which pays hospital bills for the elderly and disabled, lost $4.2 
billion--that is billion with a ``B''--in the first half of the current 
fiscal year. Those losses are more than 100 times larger than the $35.7 
million loss the trust fund experienced all last year.
  The $4.2 billion loss is also in stark contrast to the rosy scenario 
coming out of the White House last year. As part of their attempt to 
lead the public

[[Page S3894]]

to believe that Republicans concern with Medicare was ``much ado about 
nothing,'' they predicted that the Medicare trust fund would take in 
$45 million more than it would spend in the current fiscal year. 
Obviously, the White House was as off base in its economic projections 
as they were in their political accusations.
  The article also reports that Roland King, former chief actuary of 
the Health Care Financing Administration, which runs Medicare, said 
that after analyzing these new numbers, he believes the hospital 
insurance trust fund will not run out in 2002 as the trustees 
originally projected. Instead, it will run out in 2000 or 2001.
  I am sure that a number of Republicans are tempted to say ``I told 
you so,'' this morning. But saying that will get us no closer to the 
solutions necessary to save Medicare from bankruptcy.
  And so, Mr. President, this Senator stands ready to work on a 
bipartisan basis to save, preserve, and strengthen Medicare. It is my 
hope that in the face of these alarming new numbers, the President will 
choose the path of leading rather than the path of misleading.

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