Date: 2011-10-26
Speaker: HERRERA BEUTLER (republican)
Chamber: H

I thank my colleague. and the Republican women who have joined us here tonight to talk about such an important issue and to share what we have been doing on behalf of our Nations seniors. because I believe we need to protect the rights of our Nations seniors. the right to make choices about their health care. the right to access what they spend their entire working lives paying into. the right to know that the programs that exist today will be there when they need them. Now I would like to talk specifically about the right to make choices. Now in my corner of the country in southwest Washington State. more than a third of our seniors have chosen Medicare Advantage. Thats 37 percent who have made this choice. In my most populated county. Clark County. half of the seniors have chosen to use Medicare Advantage. Part of the reason for thisand many times you see this happenis because fewer and fewer doctors are taking traditional Medicare. It just doesnt pay enough to cover the bills. With Medicare Advantage. and youre a new Medicare beneficiary. you might have a shot at getting a doctor. This is very important when we have 10.000 baby boomers retiring every single day. We stand with our Nations seniors when it comes toand I say "we." my Republican colleagues and myselfwhen it comes to accessing programs theyve spent their whole lives paying for. The Medicare Board of Trustees and the Congressional Budget Office. CBO. two nonpartisan groups who are tasked with figuring out what the cost of bills are. and thats CBO and Medicare. the trustees are tasked with the financial responsibility of keeping Medicare on the straight and narrow. Both have said within the next decade Medicare goes completely bankrupt. So if you are at home and youre watching this. the one thing you need to know is doing nothing is not an option. Ten years. 10 years. and Medicare goes insolvent. You know what that means? It means that those seniors who have paid their whole life into this program are suddenly going to be faced with choices. Are they going to face cuts in benefits or more limited services? Insolvent. completely insolvent. We have to do something. which is why earlier this year my Republican colleagues and myself joined together to put forth solutions for Medicare. to save it and to protect it. Those folks who have paid into this program their whole life deserve to pull that money out when it is time to access it. which means we need to take action now. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to consider the Housepassed budget because what it does is protect retirement benefits for everyone who is 55 and older. completely keeps it as it is. And then for those in my generation who are younger. who are coming up the pike. it changes it necessarily so that we can also access those benefits we will pay into. So Im excited today to join with my colleagues to make sure that we protect these important programs. Seniors have a right to these programs. which is why we are stepping forward. We are going to stand with them to make sure that what theyve paid into. theyll be able to access when it comes time. The seniors in southwest Washington have spent years planning for their retirement. My colleagues and I will continue to take the lead when it comes to protecting programs like Medicare and their choices within Medicare. We have fought and will continue to fight against the credit card spending and against that mentality that jeopardizes this program because our seniors deserve that which they have paid into. Now the Republican women that have joined me tonight on the floor to talk about these important issues. we understand that our Nations seniors have rights. and they are looking to us to protect those rights. to protect Medicare for them and for future generations.