[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17561-17562]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  BREACH OF THE COMMITMENT TO MEDICARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. King of Iowa). Under a previous order of 
the House, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, when President Bush took office, he 
assured seniors he would honor the Nation's commitment to Medicare. He 
said Medicare is the binding commitment of a caring society. He did not 
say temporary commitment. He did not say faltering commitment. He said 
binding commitment.
  By any standard, raising the Medicare premium by 17.4 percent, that 
is more than five times the projected increase in Social Security 
benefits for seniors, raising the Medicare premium by 17.4 percent is a 
breach of that commitment, the largest increase in Medicare's 38 year 
history.
  At the Republican convention on Thursday night, the President said, 
``I believe we have a moral responsibility to honor America's 
seniors.'' The next day, late in the afternoon, right before Labor Day, 
Friday afternoon, the Labor Day weekend, in spite of his comments the 
night before, the President quietly announced this 17.4 percent 
increase in premiums for senior citizens to have to pay into Medicare. 
Right before the Labor Day weekend. Is that what it means to honor 
seniors?
  After President Bush signed the Medicare drug law a year ago, he 
launched a very expensive taxpayer-financed ad campaign featuring the 
slogan: ``Same Medicare, better benefits.'' Those ads failed to mention 
the 17 percent premium increase even though the administration planned 
it as far back as March 2003. They failed to mention the 10 percent 
increase in the deductible for doctors' services which was written into 
the new law. It failed to mention the fact that both the premium and 
the deductible will continue to increase year after year after year 
without any corresponding increase in coverage.
  Those ads, those taxpayer-financed ads, trying to sell the American 
people on the new Medicare bill failed to mention that while seniors 
will be paying more for the same Medicare, HMOs will be, ``earning'' 
might not be the right word, but earning more for the same Medicare. 
$16 billion more, in fact.
  This bill, this Medicare bill, clearly written for the drug industry 
and for

[[Page 17562]]

the insurance industry, clearly has put seniors in the back seat. The 
drug industry, the insurance industries have contributed literally tens 
of millions of dollars to President Bush's campaign. The insurance 
industry gets a taxpayer subsidy of $16 billion. And then seniors see 
their premiums go up and see their deductibles go up. They have got to 
find the money somewhere.
  Under the Bush plan, in order to pay the insurance companies those 
subsidies, they need to raise the premiums for seniors more than $100; 
they need to raise those premiums, a 17 percent increase. They need to 
raise those premiums for seniors to make up that money.
  These benefits are being lavished on HMOs as a bonus and incentive 
for HMOs to accelerate their enrollment of Medicare enrollees. Now HMO 
profits last year without this increased by 50 percent, yet seniors are 
paying higher premiums so that HMO profits can soar even further. 
Senior and disabled Medicare enrollees on fixed incomes will pay more. 
HMOs will earn more and big drug companies will charge more.
  The Bush administration in an amazing sleight of hand insisted on 
prohibiting Medicare from negotiating bulk discounts on behalf of 39 
million Medicare beneficiaries on the prescription drugs the same way 
that large insurance plans do, the same way that the VA does in our 
government.
  As a result, the drug industry, because of this protection of the 
drug industry by the Bush administration, the drug industry stands to 
earn an additional $160 billion in profits during the next 10 years. 
$160 billion in profits in the next 10 years.
  Again, more campaign contributions to President Bush from the 
insurance industry, more tens of millions of dollars in campaign 
contributions to the Republican leadership and to the President from 
the drug industry.
  It is the same old story, the President says the right thing and then 
he does the wrong thing. It is the same old story, the President always 
responding to the best heeled, most organized, wealthiest corporate 
interests in this city.
  Last week, the President again called himself a compassionate 
conservative, as if eroding senior's fixed incomes is compassionate, as 
if coercing them into fly-by-night HMOs, as the Medicare bill does, is 
compassionate, as if relegating seniors to a bargain-basement 
prescription drug plan is in any way compassionate.
  After all, this President has proposed cutting $60 billion from 
Medicaid; he had to because the tax cuts that went overwhelmingly to 
the wealthiest people in our society, he had to find the money 
someplace when it is the only source of nursing home care for 70 
percent of people who need it. It is consistent, but it is not 
compassionate.

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