[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 93 (Monday, June 23, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H5688]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MAKING MEDICARE BETTER FOR ALL SENIORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Garrett of New Jersey). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Solis) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to be here tonight to talk 
about a very important issue that is resonating across the country, and 
just recently on my return back from my district, more importantly, the 
issue of Medicare and prescription drug reform which is impacting 
largely low-income working families and especially many of the families 
that I represent in my district in California, Latino working families.
  The facts are clear, 87 percent of uninsured Latinos come from 
working taxpaying families. However, nearly 60 percent of Latinos live 
in families with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level. Many 
of these families, 37 percent, in fact, lack basic access to quality 
care. Low-income elderly Latinos face incomparable barriers to health 
care at just about every corner of their lives. Linguistic, cultural, 
financial burdens continually impede their health access that would 
otherwise be available to every American.
  When President Johnson signed the Medicare bill back in 1965 he said, 
and I quote: ``No longer will older Americans be denied the healing 
miracle of modern medicine.''
  Medicare was not created to exclude the elderly in exchange to enrich 
private insurance companies. The Republican proposal as I see it 
undermines the universal character of Medicare that ensures quality for 
all seniors. Instead, it provides different benefits to different 
seniors depending on your income. Figures estimate that the Medicare 
beneficiaries who spend $4,000 or more out of pocket on drugs are not 
individuals making less than 100 percent of poverty, not those between 
100 and 200 percent of poverty, but those individuals who live with 
incomes greater than 200 percent of poverty. These are the people we 
are asking to pay the most for their prescription drugs.
  The House Republican bill increases costs for seniors by $8 billion 
and does not offer meaningful benefits, nor does it make drugs 
affordable for our seniors. How can we even realistically say we are 
attempting to improve the lives of all Americans when the Latinos and 
low-income elderly population are the most susceptible for falling 
between the privatized cracks?
  There are more than 214,000 Latino Medicare beneficiaries currently 
residing in the State where I come from, in California, and over 55 
percent of those seniors report having little or no information. They 
do not even know about the bilingual toll-free Medicare phone number. 
Some do not even have telephones in their homes. Who will care for 
those beneficiaries when the Republicans impose unaffordable premiums, 
requiring spending up to $250 before they can receive any help at all? 
This even prohibits the HHS Secretary from negotiating better prices. I 
thought he was supposed to be working on our side on behalf of our 
consumers and our seniors.
  With private and for-profit managed care plans competing to entice 
healthy seniors to enroll, traditional Medicare will be forced to raise 
out-of-pocket costs astronomically for the sickest and most disabled 
beneficiaries. The holes in the cracks are visible. We are just seeing 
what has occurred in the State of California where many beneficiaries 
were dumped and they were left without care.
  I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to think of the 
future of these populations, the low-income, taxpaying. Whether they 
are Latino or not, let us help all the elderly who deserve accessible 
and meaningful Medicare plans. Let us protect our Nation by caring for 
all American seniors, and let us begin by working with the program that 
we know works, that will make a difference for all of us.

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