[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5089]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE FUTURE OF MEDICARE

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, on Monday I met in western New York at the 
Cheektowaga Senior Center, where the discussion centered around the 
future of Medicare. Prior to the creation of Medicare in 1965, only 50 
percent of seniors had health insurance because they were seen by 
insurance companies as too risky. Today, Medicare is a lifeline to 
affordable prescription medications and accessible preventative care 
for seniors across the Nation, including over 100,000 beneficiaries in 
my district alone.
  Now some want to change the program to instead give our seniors a 
voucher that forces them to go out into the market on their own to try 
to obtain insurance. Our parents and grandparents deserve better. 
Medicare provides one of the most important guarantees in our society: 
the guarantee that if you are an older American and you get sick, you 
will get the care that you need without going broke. This is an 
American promise worth fighting to protect.

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