[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 10576-10577]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          PROTECTING MEDICARE

  (Mr. COURTNEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, when former President Harry Truman and his 
wife, Bess, were officially enrolled as the first Medicare 
beneficiaries on July 1, 1966, only 50 percent of America's seniors 
could afford private health insurance.

[[Page 10577]]

  The high risks associated with covering America's over-65 population 
made seniors basically uninsurable. That all changed 45 years ago last 
week when Medicare was established as a guaranteed benefit, providing a 
basic level of care for seniors regardless of income or illness.
  From the beginning, Medicare has proven resilient, adapting to rapid 
changes in medicine and surviving in wartime and peace, economic boom 
times and in recession. Despite some alarmist claims, Medicare has 
faced more difficult financial challenges in the past than the ones it 
faces today. Preserving Medicare's guaranteed benefits for future 
generations is our solemn duty, and we must stop the push for vouchers, 
which will ruin America's middle class.
  On the 45th anniversary of this landmark program, we must rededicate 
ourselves to protecting Medicare as a guaranteed benefit for tomorrow's 
seniors, not butchering it with a voucher program or using it as an ATM 
for the top 2 percents.
  Happy birthday, Medicare. If we stay true to our values, you will 
have many happy returns.

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