[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 8372-8373]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    OPPOSING REPUBLICAN EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SILVESTRE REYES

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 27, 2011

  Mr. REYES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to strongly oppose the 
Republican's plan to eliminate Medicare as we know it. The Republican 
budget ends the Medicare benefits guarantee and replaces it with an 
inadequate voucher system where seniors will have to buy their own 
health insurance in 2022. These actions will fulfill Republicans' 
longtime goal of privatizing Medicare. Their plan eliminates critical 
provisions of the Affordable Care Act, including those that provide no-
cost preventative screenings for all seniors and eliminates a 50 
percent discount for brand-name drugs for seniors in the `donut hole.' 
Above all, the Republican plan increases the age eligibility for 
Medicare from 65 to 67, raising health care costs for millions of 
seniors who will have to wait longer to gain access to Medicare.
  The plan to dismantle Medicare will have a devastating impact in my 
district. There are over 76,000 seniors in El Paso, and over 2.4 
million seniors in Texas according to the most recent U.S. Census 2010 
numbers. Based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis, the 
Republican plan would more than double a senior's out-of-pocket health 
care spending in 2022, compared to what their costs would be under 
traditional Medicare--increasing their out-of-pocket costs by more than 
$6,000 annually. By 2030, the GOP plan would nearly triple this cost to 
seniors.
  These drastic changes to Medicare are a clear reflection of continued 
efforts to cut vital services for hardworking families to subsidize tax 
breaks for millionaires. It is simply irresponsible to balance the 
budget on the backs

[[Page 8373]]

of seniors, while millionaires who can afford the high cost of health 
care, benefit from more tax breaks. Republicans are wrongly targeting 
vulnerable seniors, many of whom survive on limited incomes. Their plan 
will undoubtedly place additional burdens not only on seniors, but on 
their children, who will bear more costs to help meet the health care 
needs of their parents. This plan will also have a disproportionate 
impact on low income communities, such as those in the district that I 
represent, that will be overburdened with uninsured patients who will 
use public hospitals to meet their health care needs.
  We have an obligation to protect our seniors and ensure they continue 
to have access to Medicare and receive the health care they need in the 
years ahead. That is why I will strongly oppose any effort to privatize 
Medicare and to increase health care costs for seniors.