[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6043-6044]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1020
                              2012 BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Deutch) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DEUTCH. Tomorrow, my Republican colleagues will bring a 2012 
budget to the floor of the House, a budget that rolls back generations 
of progress and, quite simply, ends Medicare as we know it.
  Fifty years ago, before Medicare and Medicaid were signed into law, 
Americans preparing to retire faced tremendous uncertainty. Private 
health insurance was simply out of reach. Savings put away during years 
of employment could barely cover those bills, if they could cover them 
at all. Seniors were forced to rely on their own children, many of whom 
were struggling to raise families of their own, to pay for medical 
care.
  When the financial support of family and relatives was not an option, 
elderly Americans found themselves with the choice of a life without 
the care of doctors or a life of destitution. This was the status quo 
before Medicare and Medicaid were signed into law, and the American 
people found it unacceptable.
  We believed then, as we believe now, that we have a responsibility to 
ensure that seniors, children, and the permanently disabled, the most 
vulnerable in our society, have access to quality health care. It was 
this sense of shared responsibility that Congress codified in 1965 
through the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.
  As President Lyndon B. Johnson said as he signed this historic 
legislation, ``No longer will older Americans be denied the healing 
miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy 
the savings that they have so carefully put away over a lifetime so 
that they might enjoy dignity in their later years.''
  Today, 45 million seniors depend on Medicare's guaranteed quality 
benefits. Now this year, as in every year, we find ourselves in the 
middle of a budget debate. At times, both Republicans and Democrats can 
be accused of hyperbole. However, it is no exaggeration to say that the 
Republican budget headed to the House floor tomorrow abandons America's 
seniors and does away with the concept of guaranteed Medicare benefits. 
It is no overstatement to say that it hands Medicare over to the 
private health insurance industry, and it is no lie to say that this 
plan ends Medicare as we know it.
  This budget is no Path to Prosperity; for seniors, it is a path to 
the poor house. You can call it premium support; you can call it a 
voucher; you can call it a coupon; you can call it the golden ticket if 
you'd like; but changing the name won't change the fact that this 
Republican plan will force America's seniors to hand over most of their 
income to America's insurers. Maybe instead of ``premium support,'' 
this plan should be called ``insurance company profit assistance.''
  By the time the Republican plan begins distributing coupons to 
seniors in 2022, most retirees will be unable to afford health care. 
After all, these coupons will be worth only 32 percent of the insurance 
bill. According to the nonpartisan analysts at the Congressional Budget 
Office, in less than two decades a private health insurance plan as 
good as Medicare will cost about $30,000. Unfortunately, the Republican 
voucher that will be sent out under this budget plan will only be worth 
$9,700. This means that there will be an insurance bill worth about 
$21,000 sitting in the mailboxes of America's seniors.
  The Republican budget plan is no work of genius; it just shifts the 
burden of rising health care costs from the Federal Government to 
seniors and calls it a day. Through Medicare, Americans made a moral 
commitment as a people to ensure that seniors are not bankrupted by a 
hip replacement or diabetes medication. Likewise, with Medicaid, we 
made a moral commitment to ensure that elderly nursing home patients, 
impoverished children, the permanently disabled, and the neediest in 
our society can afford basic care. In fact, two-thirds of all Medicaid 
spending goes to caring for older adults and people with disabilities. 
The cost of long-term care, like in rehabilitation centers and nursing 
homes, is prohibitive. Medicaid serves as a lifeline for these 
individuals. And it is not an expensive program. In fact, compared to 
private sector health care costs, Medicaid is cheap, growing half as 
fast.
  The GOP plan cuts Medicaid when physicians and hospitals can barely 
afford to treat these patients because of such low reimbursement rates. 
It is no mystery why Medicaid is beginning to strain State and Federal 
budgets. With so many Americans out of work, enrollment in Medicaid has 
skyrocketed as more and more families come to rely upon this safety 
net.

[[Page 6044]]

  I have said it before and I will say it again: Medicaid is not too 
expensive. People are too poor. That's why we should be focused on 
creating new jobs. One hundred days into this new Republican Congress 
and not a single jobs bill.
  Madam Speaker, this plan is not a price that I'm willing to pay. We 
can do better. We will do better. America's seniors are watching.

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