[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 23]
[House]
[Page 31721]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2000
                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Inglis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. INGLIS. Madam Speaker, the report by the chief actuary of 
Medicare is in and, as we thought, it shows real problems with the idea 
of expanding Medicare coverage to lower age groups. This summer, I had 
an opportunity to do a bunch of town hall meetings, and in those 
meetings we discussed the fact that what we're talking about really, in 
the public option, is adding more people to something like the SS 
Medicare which is already sinking in the harbor. But now over in the 
other body, there is specifically a proposal to literally add more 
people to the sinking SS Medicare in the harbor.
  And so in the last several days, the chief actuary has provided a 
report that really should stop us in our tracks and cause us to realize 
that that's no solution, to add people to a program that is already 
unsustainable.
  What that chief actuary of Medicare reports--and there are several 
items in his report, obviously, but one of them is the report cautions 
that savings needed to extend the trust fund cannot simultaneously be 
used to extend other health insurance coverage. In other words, if 
you're going to save money, you can't simultaneously expand coverage 
under the program. It seems fairly obvious to the folks I was talking 
to in town hall meetings. Unfortunately here in Washington, it seems 
not to be comprehended. We seem to think that here in Washington we can 
continue to add people to a program even though the people that are 
currently on the program have it on a trajectory that can't be 
sustained.
  The actuary also points out that actually the Senate bill would 
increase the cost of health care; would not decrease the cost of health 
care. In fact, total spending on health care would increase by $234 
billion between 2010 and 2019. Also, total Federal expenditures on 
health care would increase $365.8 billion during that period. The bill 
would extend coverage to 33 million Americans by 2019 but would still 
leave 24 million people uninsured, 5 million of which may be illegal 
immigrants. And the number of people with employer-sponsored health 
care would drop by 5 million by 2019.
  What the chief actuary is telling us is that the solution that's 
being proposed is not a solution. In order to solve the challenge of 
Medicare, you have to figure out some way to change the underlying 
behavior. You have to figure out a way to get the patient invested in 
their care and caring how much it costs. That's what we've got to do 
for Medicare, Medicaid and for private insurance.
  There are some very creative things going on in the private sector 
that are toward this end, to have this objective of changing the 
underlying behavior. What we're discussing here in the Congress under 
the majority here in the House and the apparent majority over in the 
Senate is not something that will change behavior. What it will do is 
simply add more people to a program that is already unsustainable. So 
rather than saving money, as the President suggests it will, actually 
what will happen, as the chief actuary says, is the costs rise; not 
everybody gets covered. It's clearly not a solution.
  So what we have to do is scrap the current plans and go back to 
something that might actually work: by getting a change in behavior, by 
figuring out how to get people covered, by figuring out how to do 
medical malpractice reform and by getting 50-State competition among 
private insurance companies. Those, Madam Speaker, are the solutions we 
want to see in this country. We must stop this false solution that's 
being offered now.

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