[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1956-H1957]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       MEDICARE TRUSTEES' REPORT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, last week four Cabinet-level members of the 
Clinton administration and the rest of the Medicare trustees released 
their annual report on the future of the Medicare Program, something of 
great interest to a great many Americans, and unfortunately the 
forecast is very bleak. The condition of the part A trust fund has gone 
from serious to critical, with only a few years left before flatlining 
altogether in this very important entitlement program. It is time for 
the White House to get its act together.
  Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago, for the first time in the history of the 
program, the trust fund paid out more in expenses than it received in 
revenues. That was a pretty good indicator something was wrong. Last 
year the program lost $25 million a day every day and $9 billion over 
the course of the year, another indicator something might be wrong. 
This year that figure will climb to at least $40 million a day lost and 
almost $14.5 billion for the whole year. We are on the fast track to 
bankruptcy, with only a small window of opportunity to avoid a serious 
disaster in Medicare part A which so many Americans depend on.
  While this projection is undisputed, the call to action from the 
White House has not been forthcoming. Yes, the President has moved 
toward us in terms of raw numbers, but he has avoided making the tough 
choices necessary to truly reform and improve Medicare. In fact, the 
President's prescription involves no heavy lifting at all. It just 
ambushes the American taxpayer down the road with higher taxes. Where 
have we heard that before? By switching the home health portion of 
Medicare to Part B without a corresponding increase in the premium to 
pay for it, this administration has signaled that its intention is not 
to save the program but, rather, to continue to play politics with the 
numbers and raise taxes.
  But there is good news, and that is why I am here. The good news is 
that we can save Medicare as this Congress has done recently. But it is 
not going to happen with accounting gimmicks, misguided customer 
providers, or vetoes from the White House. Instead we should take a 
hard look at what is driving the soaring costs and address them head 
on.
  We need medical malpractice reform to assure that our precious 
resources are not being wasted on defensive medicine. A Stanford study 
found that States that have passed some kind of tort reform, like my 
home State of Florida, have seen incredible savings in even the most 
complicated medical areas. The study confirms what many of us already 
knew, excessive litigation serves the trial lawyers primarily, not our 
senior citizens.
  We can and must increase the number of options available in the 
Medicare Program. Every senior should have choices to go beyond the fee 
for service or an HMO, options that include things like provider-
sponsored networks and medical savings accounts. Individual choice 
should be the hallmark of any reform plan.
  Of course, we should always keep our eye on the fraud and abuse that 
still

[[Page H1957]]

plagues our system, regrettably. In the last Congress we instituted 
tougher penalties for those who cheat the system, and we should pursue 
identified ways to do more of that. Representative Quinn's legislation 
to establish an inspector general for the program I think is a fine 
first step. I hope that we will continue to deter and punish those who 
drain our Medicare resources by cheating.
  Mr. Speaker, the campaign is over. The demagoguery, the distortions, 
the cynical misdirections might have served a political purpose in the 
last Presidential campaign, but they did not do anything to save the 
Medicare trust fund. The effect dramatically of it in this year's 
report has been to exacerbate the problem. As the trustees note, and 
again there are Cabinet members among them, ``it is misleading to think 
that any part of the program can be exempt from change.'' We have to 
fix it.
  It is time we heed the trustees' warnings. It is time for structural 
reform that saves Medicare not merely until the next election, but well 
into the next century because a great many Americans are counting on 
it.
  Mr. Speaker, I served on the Kerrey commission. We talked about the 
entitlement, the well-being of the entitlement programs in our country, 
and we discovered that we were on unsustainable trendlines, and this is 
just the first of others that are going to follow unless we have reform 
of our entitlement programs.
  I am proud that Congress did its job. We passed the strength of the 
Medicare Act bill in the last Congress. The Senate passed it. President 
Clinton vetoed it. Since that veto we have lost almost $20 billion in 
revenues in trust fund part A. This adds up to real money, but more 
important, it adds up to real anxiety for our senior citizens.
  It is time we heard from the White House on this program. The Cabinet 
members have spoken, the committee has spoken, Congress has spoken. 
Will the President speak?

                          ____________________