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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 86 (Tuesday, May 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5382-H5383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                MEDICARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
[[Page H5383]]

  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to 
address my colleagues on some issues that I think are very important to 
all Americans. First, I think we need to look at what has happened to 
try to help our senior citizens across the United States.
  First, this 104th Congress, a very sensitive and caring, 
compassionate Congress, has already rolled back the Clinton tax on 
Social Security which had been established 2 years ago. We have also 
raised the earnings limits for seniors who are under 70 from $11,280 to 
$30,000 over the next 5 years. We have also passed legislation calling 
for a $500 elder care tax credit, also a tax credit for the purchase of 
long-term care health insurance.
  Now comes the issue of Medicare. We want to make sure in this 
Congress that we preserve, protect, and improve Medicare in this United 
States. We have heard from the trustees, a bipartisan group with three 
appointees from the Clinton administration, that in fact if we do 
nothing to help Medicare and let it stay the way it is, it will go 
bankrupt by the year 2002. A responsible House and Senate has to move 
forward to make sure we preserve, protect, and improve Medicare. Many 
of us are starting what we call Medicare preservation task forces. I 
just started one in my district in Montgomery County, PA. We have 
senior citizens and health care professionals and consumers of Medicare 
meeting for the purpose of discussing how we can make sure we in fact 
have Medicare become strong and remain vital.
  The Republican proposal calls for the current figure of $4,700 to 
grow to $6,300 by the year 2002. That is a 45-percent increase. But we 
also need to make some other changes in the system to make sure it is 
in fact remaining strong. There is estimated as much as $44 billion in 
waste, fraud, and abuse in the current Medicare and Medicaid systems. 
We need to make sure that the inspector general and other appropriate 
officials and, in Congress, oversight committees are making the changes 
so that that amount of waste is eliminated from Medicare and direct 
services do go to the people.
  One of the other options we will be discussing is managed care and 
whether or not there is a more efficient and appropriate way to deliver 
the health care for those who may want that option while still 
retaining the fee-for-service option for health care for those on 
Medicare.
  We need to have House and Senate Republicans and Democrats working 
together on a solution. We have seen that from the Clinton 
administration they have been AWOL, absent without leadership. There 
has been no proposal on how to save Medicare, when we know from the 
trustees and from the bipartisan task force that in fact Medicare needs 
to have appropriate changes made in the system to improve it, to ensure 
that it is vital, and to make sure that it is financially stable.
  I am looking forward to working across the aisle with fellow Members 
of the House to find the ways and means to control the costs, to 
eliminate bureaucracy, and to make sure we have more direct services to 
our senior citizens who deserve the best health care possible under our 
Medicare system and to make sure that in fact we work together for a 
solution before the year 2002 so that none of those senior citizens who 
want to have a Medicare Program that is there will miss the 
opportunity.
  We will work together to help senior citizens to help improve 
Medicare, and to keep Social Security off the table because that is a 
program that has been vested by our seniors. It is a paid-in pension 
program. It is higher than an entitlement. It is a paid-in pension 
program that people deserve to have there for them, but we want to make 
sure that Medicare is strong and vital for them.
  I look forward to working with Members of the House on both sides of 
the aisle.

                          ____________________
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