[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 15675-15676]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          OBAMA MEDICARE CUTS

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                         HON. GINNY BROWN-WAITE

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 18, 2009

  Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. Madam Speaker, President Obama used 
his weekly radio address last Saturday to outline new cuts to Medicare 
and Medicaid benefits, totaling over 300 billion dollars.
  My continuous fear throughout the health care reform process has been 
that Democrats will opt to pay for changes to the system on the backs 
of seniors.
  This is unfair to my district, where more Medicare beneficiaries 
reside than anywhere else in the country.
  Among the cuts the President has proposed are reducing payments to 
hospitals that care for large numbers of the uninsured by $106 billion.
  President Obama asserts that because so many people will have health 
insurance after his reforms, these hospitals will no longer need the 
money.
  But that doesn't account for illegal immigrants, who use the 
emergency room since they cannot obtain care elsewhere.

[[Page 15676]]

  Emergency rooms visits are a major driver of health care costs, and 
if hospitals cannot receive aid from the federal government, they may 
be forced to eliminate valuable resources you or I may desperately need 
in the future.
  The President also proposed taking $75 billion from the Medicare Part 
D prescription drug program.
  As someone who worked diligently on the bill to provide prescription 
drug coverage for seniors for the first time in history, I am adamantly 
opposed to taking money from this program.
  The logical assumption is that if the program is cut, Part D plans 
will be forced to raise seniors' premiums in order to cover their 
costs.
  President Obama is also determined to cut $177 billion from Medicare 
Advantage plans, which I know my constituents value greatly.
  Our nation's 44 million elderly who have worked hard all their lives 
cannot be ignored in favor of trying to provide coverage to a few 
million people.
  I urge my Democrat colleagues in Congress to make more of an effort 
to address quality and reform payment systems, instead of taking 
benefits directly from seniors.

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