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(1) further streamlining and consolidating Fed-
eral workforce development programs; 
(2) empowering States with the flexibility to 
tailor funding and programs to the specific needs of 
their workforce and employers; and 
(3) protecting employee freedom, promoting 
union accountability, supporting independent con-
tractors, updating the Fair Labor Standards Act, 
and strengthening retirement security for workers 
and families. 
SEC. 406. POLICY STATEMENT ON MEDICARE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) More than 65,000,000 Americans depend 
on Medicare for their health care needs. 
(2) Congress must protect Medicare for current 
and future generations by strengthening the pro-
gram to prevent reductions to benefits beneficiaries 
depend on. 
(3) The Medicare Trustees Report has repeat-
edly recommended that Congress address Medicare’s 
long-term financial challenges. Each year without re-
form, the financial condition of Medicare becomes 
more precarious and the threat to those in or near 
retirement more pronounced. The current challenges 
that Congress will need to address include— 
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(A) the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund 
will be exhausted in 2031 and unable to pay the 
full scheduled benefits; 
(B) Medicare enrollment is expected to in-
crease significantly, as 10,000 baby boomers 
reach retirement age each day; 
(C) due to extended life spans, enrollees 
remain in Medicare three times longer than at 
the outset of the program nearly six decades 
ago; 
(D) notwithstanding the program’s trust 
fund arrangement, current workers’ payroll tax 
contributions pay for current Medicare bene-
ficiaries instead of being set aside for their own 
future use; 
(E) the number of workers supporting 
each beneficiary continues to fall; in 1965, the 
ratio was 4.5 workers per beneficiary, and by 
2030, the ratio will be only 2.5 workers per 
beneficiary; 
(F) the average Medicare beneficiary re-
ceives about three dollars in Medicare benefits 
for every dollar paid into the program; 
(G) Medicare is growing faster than the 
economy, with an average projected growth rate 
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of 7.5 percent per year over the next 10 years; 
and 
(H) by 2034, Medicare spending will reach 
more than $2.2 trillion, more than double the 
2023 spending level of $1 trillion. 
(4) Over the next 75 years, the Medicare pro-
gram faces more than $53 trillion in unfunded liabil-
ities, representing the shortfall of what it will take 
in today’s dollars to fund promised benefits to bene-
ficiaries. Failing to address the fiscal challenges in 
the Medicare program will continue to contribute to 
Federal deficits and debt, while placing increasing 
pressure on the Federal budget over the long term. 
(b) POLICY ON MEDICARE REFORM.—It is the policy 
of this concurrent resolution to support bipartisan solu-
tions to save Medicare for those in or near retirement and 
to strengthen the program’s solvency for future bene-
ficiaries. 
SEC. 407. POLICY STATEMENT ON PROMOTING PATIENT- 
CENTERED HEALTH CARE REFORM. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) Patient-centered health care increases ac-
cess to quality care for all Americans, regardless of 
age, income, or health status. 
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(2) Consolidated health care markets that lack 
free and fair competition have resulted in higher 
prices and decreased quality of care for patients. 
(3) States are best equipped to respond to the 
needs of their unique communities. 
(4) The current legal framework encourages 
frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits that increase 
health care costs. 
(b) POLICY ON HEALTH CARE REFORM.—It is the 
policy of this concurrent resolution that— 
(1) Americans deserve affordable, accessible, 
and personalized health care coverage that best fits 
their needs; 
(2) Congress should enact policies that increase 
competition and transparency in health care markets 
by targeting the incentives that drive consolidation, 
including bipartisan legislation to equalize payments 
between hospital outpatient departments and inde-
pendent physician offices; 
(3) the American health care system should en-
courage research, development, and innovation in the 
medical sector, rather than stymie growth through 
overregulation; 
(4) States should determine the parameters of 
acceptable private insurance plans based on the 
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needs of their populations and retain control over 
other health care coverage standards; 
(5) reforms should protect patients with pre-ex-
isting conditions and create greater parity between 
benefits offered through employers and those offered 
independently; 
(6) States should have greater flexibility in de-
signing their Medicaid programs and State Chil-
dren’s Health Insurance Programs; and 
(7) States should have the flexibility to imple-
ment medical liability policies to best suit their 
needs. 
SEC. 408. POLICY STATEMENT ON MEDICAL INNOVATION. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) The Nation’s commitment to the discovery, 
development, and delivery of new treatments and 
cures has made the United States the biomedical in-
novation capital of the world. 
(2) The Nation’s preeminent position in bio-
medical innovation has brought life-saving drugs to 
patients, provided millions of jobs in local commu-
nities across the country, and furthered the United 
States’ economic prosperity. 
(3) American companies and scientists have 
been responsible for the first of many scientific dis-
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