[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25792]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, as the House majority debates with 
itself in secret on the future of health care, the American people are 
justified and worried about what is being discussed behind those closed 
doors.
  As I always do, I have spent months listening to seniors across my 
district, and they are particularly concerned about how so-called 
``reform'' will affect their Medicare and the medical care on which 
they rely every day.
  Let me tell you, they are wise. They know that the so-called 
``Medicare savings'' that are proposed to pay for the Speaker's $1 
trillion reform bill sounds an awful lot like Medicare cuts to them. In 
fact, there are $500 billion in cuts to Medicare over 10 years in the 
bill, cuts that affect them, the doctors that treat them, and the 
hospitals who care for them.
  Specifically, the majority plans to slash the Medicare Advantage 
program by more than $120 billion. Experts believe that nearly 3 
million seniors will be thrown off Medicare Advantage and millions more 
will pay out-of-pocket expenses or face reduced benefits. We can't let 
this happen.

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