[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24963]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      SENIORS WILL SEE REDUCED BENEFITS UNDER NEW HEALTH CARE PLAN

  (Mr. ROE of Tennessee asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, as a doctor, I see the health 
care reform debate a little differently than many of my colleagues. 
When people talk about cost savings and different health care plans, 
they are really talking about access to care for my patients. There is 
an immediate and long-term problem for patients' access under the 
Democrats' plan.
  In the near term, 20 percent of our seniors will see reduced 
benefits. It's not credible to say that we are not cutting Medicare 
benefits when, in fact, we are. These so-called reforms seem incredibly 
short-sighted to me in light of the fact that they will decrease access 
to care.
  Over the longer term, H.R. 3200 will force further cutbacks in care 
as cost savings fail to materialize. Why am I so confident of this 
outcome? Because I heard the same promises, the same predictions to my 
patients under TennCare, our State's Medicaid experiment that failed 
spectacularly. Care was rationed and enrollment for the program was 
closed, and that hurt our patients. We simply cannot allow these 
cutbacks to harm patient care.
  I urge all Members to go back to their districts and talk to their 
doctors and patients. I think they will hear a different story and 
remedy for our health care system than the one the Democrats are trying 
to prescribe.

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