[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 125 (Thursday, September 12, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H10336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    PROPOSED REPUBLICAN CUTS WILL RESULT IN DEVASTATION OF MEDICARE

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address theHouse for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I just want to follow up on what my 
colleague from New York just said. We know what happened in the last 2 
years with the Republican leadership plans to cut Medicare and 
Medicaid.
  If those plans had gone into effect, and thank goodness they did not 
because of the President and because Democrats in Congress constantly 
fought against it, if they had gone into effect what we would have seen 
is increased costs for senior citizens as well as the general 
population. We would have seen the actual costs for part B premiums 
under Medicare almost doubled. We would have seen copayments go up and 
deductibles go up for Medicare, and, at the same time, we also saw the 
proposal this year in 1996 that would basically have allowed doctors, 
if a senior stayed in traditional Medicare, to charge whatever they 
want over and above what Medicare pays the physician.
  The bottom line is that there is no free lunch. If we impose these 
tremendous cuts in Medicare that were proposed by the Republican 
leadership in the past 2 years, and even more cuts that would be 
proposed because of what Presidential candidate Dole is saying, we will 
see devastation of Medicare.

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