[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 149 (Thursday, October 15, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10443-S10444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HEALTH CARE WEEK XIII, DAY III

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, from the very outset of the debate 
over

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health care, Americans have made it known that they support reform. But 
over the course of the past several months, Americans have come to 
realize that not all reforms are created equal.
  And while they still support reform, very few of them support the 
specific proposals they have seen from Democrats in Washington. 
Americans want reform. But higher premiums, higher taxes, and cutting 
Medicare is not reform.
  Somewhere along the way, the terms of the debate shifted.
  At the outset, nobody expected that reform would lead to higher 
premiums. In fact, most people thought the whole point was to reduce 
costs, not raise them.
  At the outset of this debate, nobody expected they would be paying 
higher taxes, particularly in the midst of the worst recession in 
generations. Yet that is what they are now being told, that middle 
class Americans will take the brunt of a whole slew of new taxes to pay 
for a trillion-dollar experiment with our health care system.
  And at the outset of this debate, seniors had no idea they would be 
asked to help foot the bill for this massive experiment in government 
health care through cuts to Medicare. Yet that is precisely what 
they're now being told--that Medicare will be cut by half a trillion 
dollars, whether the 40 million seniors who depend on it like it or 
not.
  Let us focus for a moment on those Medicare cuts.
  For months, Americans have been hearing that if they like the health 
care plans they have, they will be able to keep them. Evidently, that 
pledge didn't apply to the millions of seniors currently enrolled in 
the popular Medicare Advantage program, because the Finance Committee 
bill explicitly calls for more than $130 billion in cuts to Medicare 
Advantage, cuts that will undoubtedly alter the plans that more than 11 
million seniors on Medicare Advantage now enjoy.
  These cuts might lead to fewer benefits; or they might force seniors 
off their plans altogether. But under either scenario, seniors would no 
longer enjoy the plans they have and like. No one expected that at the 
outset of this debate.
  And this is just a fraction of the Medicare cuts that the Finance 
Committee calls for as the cost of reform. Other cuts include more than 
$120 billion in cuts to hospitals that care for seniors. The Kentucky 
Hospital Association warned earlier this year that these kinds of cuts 
would affect the services hospitals provide in my State. I am sure if 
my colleagues talked to doctors and hospitals back home, they would 
hear the same.
  Then there is more than $40 billion in cuts to home health agencies 
which give seniors the option of receiving care in their homes.
  The bill also takes another $15 billion in cuts to nursing home which 
care for seniors who can no longer be cared for at home.
  And then there is nearly $8 billion in cuts to hospice care.
  Nobody expected a free lunch when it came to health care reform. But 
no one expected this either. Americans are doing the cost-benefit 
analysis, and they don't think half a trillion dollars in cuts to 
Medicare is an acceptable tradeoff, especially since none of these cuts 
would do anything to strengthen and protect Medicare.
  It would be one thing if Medicare reforms were used to ensure its 
solvency for future generations. But the proposals we have seen do 
nothing of the sort. Instead, they use Medicare as a piggy bank to 
create another government program that will undoubtedly face the same 
financial stresses that we see in Medicare and in just about every 
other entitlement program.
  The President thought this was a bad idea on the campaign trail. It 
is still a bad idea today.
  Americans know the dangers of holding off on Medicare reform. When 
Medicare Part A was created in 1965, it was projected to spend out $9.1 
billion on hospital services and related administration in 1990. As it 
turned out, costs that year were more than seven times the original 
estimates. Forty-four years after its creation, Medicare is already 
paying out more money than it is taking in. It is already committed to 
spend nearly $40 trillion it doesn't have, and current forecasts 
indicate that Medicare will face bankruptcy in less than a decade.
  It is time to restore this vital program for the sake of our seniors, 
not raid it to pay for a massive government-driven experiment that 
could make our health care worse.
  The American people want reform. But higher premiums, higher taxes, 
and cutting Medicare, that is not reform. That is why they 
overwhelmingly oppose this proposal, and they shouldn't have to 
apologize for it. They should expect Congress to listen to them, and 
keep up the pressure until Congress listens.
  I yield the floor.

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