[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 12, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    REPUBLICANS SHOULD WORK WITH DEMOCRATS TO PROTECT MEDICARE FOR 
                       AMERICA'S SENIOR CITIZENS

  (Mr. VOLKMER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, it is budget time again. Once again, I hear 
my extreme radical Republican colleagues, under the gentleman from 
Georgia, Newt Gingrich, and Bob Dole telling the American public they 
are going to save Medicare. How are they going to do that? They are 
going to do that by cutting it by $168 billion, by forcing senior 
citizens to pay more for health care, by gutting rural health care, and 
by closing hospitals. This budget cuts funding for hospitals by 19 
percent. How are my radical Republican colleagues going to save 
Medicare if they close hundreds of hospitals?
  Mr. Speaker, according to the Missouri Hospital Association, this 
would not be a mere reduction in the rate of increase, but a dangerous 
and devastating cut in payment. Rather than receiving an increased 
level of payment for services that are more intensive and increasingly 
costly to deliver, hospitals will be paid less in each of the next 6 
years than they are paid this year. Many of the rural hospitals in my 
district will be devastated by these cuts and forced to close their 
doors. How does this improve health care for American senior citizens?

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