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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 87 (Wednesday, May 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H5556-H5557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                                MEDICARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to 
address my colleagues in the House about the very important issues 
facing our senior citizens. This has been a very senior-sensitive 104th 
Congress, and I am proud to say that under the leadership of 
individuals on both sides of the aisle we have been able to accomplish 
some very good things.
  Most notably, we have been able to raise the income eligibility for 
those seniors under 70 who want to have income above $11,280 and earn 
it. Under our new legislation, they will be able to make up to $30,000 
a year over the next 5 years without it being deducted from the Social 
Security.
  In addition, we have rolled back the very unfair 1993 Clinton tax 
increase on Social Security. In addition, we have instituted the $500 
elder care tax credit and the tax credit for the purchase of long-term 
care health insurance.
  Now that brings us to the issue that was raised by my colleague and 
friend, Congressman Bryant of Tennessee, about Medicare. We, in the 
Congress, want to do all we can to make sure we preserve and protect it 
for the 32 million of our Nation's senior citizens and 4 million 
persons with disabilities. But the Medicare spending, as you know, has 
gone up between 10 and 11 percent a year, whereas in the private sector 
health care is about a 4 to 5 percent increase a year, which tells many 
of us in Congress and those also watching to see what we will do that 
there really has been a great deal of fraud, abuse and waste in the 
system. If we do not take action to save Medicare, Mr. Speaker, by the 
year 2002, the Medicare portion of the FICA taxes for everyone will be 
raised 125 percent from the current level.
  Seniors will face an increase in their annual premiums. We can stop 
that by preserving, protecting and improving our Medicare by making 
sure we control the rate of growth and also look to innovations with 
possibilities of the medical savings accounts and with managed care.
  Last year we have seen that the Social Security Medicare board of 
trustees projected that the part A of the trust fund, the hospital care 
portion, would go broke by 1996. The trustees, who included Labor 
Secretary Robert [[Page H5557]] Reich, Health and Human Services 
Secretary Donna Shalala, and then Secretary Lloyd Bentsen of the 
Treasury, all members of the Clinton cabinet, said:

       The federal hospital insurance trust fund, which pays 
     inpatient hospital expenses, will be able to pay for only 
     about seven years and is severely out of financial balance in 
     the long range.

  The trustees, therefore, have logically called for prompt, effective 
and decisive action to save the fund from its own insolvency. As well 
the bipartisan commission on entitlement and tax reform, headed by 
Senator Bob Kerrey and Senator John Danforth came to the same 
conclusion.
  This impending disaster only came to light very recently. The Clinton 
administration had tried to sweep it under the rug. His fiscal year 
1996 budget proposes no changes or solutions to Medicare's problems, 
and he even did not bring that up when he had the White House 
Conference on Aging. It was not even addressed by him.
  As Medicare travels the road toward bankruptcy, President Clinton has 
been AWOL, absent without
 leadership, on this issue. He has even refused to participate in a 
bipartisan effort to save Medicare. Not until the Republicans had come 
forward to talk openly and honestly about how we can save, preserve and 
protect Medicare has the problem been described and the options been 
discussed.

  House Republicans are determined to work with House Democrats to save 
Medicare by using new approaches, new management, new technologies to 
improve it, preserve it and protect it. Congress has an unprecedented 
opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to undertake a fundamental reform of this 
important Medicare Program.
  One of the steps many of us are taking are Medicare preservation task 
forces, where we have senior citizens, people involved with AARP, RSVP, 
groups across our country like my own in Montgomery, Pennsylvania to 
make sure we include seniors in the solution. Seniors need to be 
served. We want to make sure we hear from them about options on making 
sure we protect it not only for seniors now but for generations to 
come.
  The General Accounting Office has estimated that there is $44 billion 
that is wasted on fraud and abuse in the Medicare and the Medicaid 
funds. As much as 30 cents of every $1 is simply wasted or lost due to 
mismanagement.
  House Republicans will increase Medicare spending under our proposal 
from $4,700 per retiree to as much as $6,300 per retiree by 2002. This 
is a 45-percent increase in Medicare spending per retiree.
  We will preserve the current Medicare system but we need to develop a 
new series of options for our senior citizens so they can control their 
own future. I believe that by working together both sides of the aisle 
we can save Medicare, preserve and protect it so that we can provide 
the best possible health care at the lowest cost to our senior citizens 
so they can control their destiny. And we working together with them, 
we will in fact have a bright future.

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