Repealing Mandatory Funding for Graduate Medical Education

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I am getting a real kick out of this debate. I really am. You know, we hear one after another of my Republican colleagues coming up here and self-righteously talking about ending the demagoguery and we should end the TV ads.

And I just want to remind you that through the 2010 elections, the Republicans went on television and, yes, how about demagogued, the issue of Medicare, saying that Democrats wanted to cut $500 billion from Medicare.

Well, let's talk about the truth. We were challenged, just a little while ago: What is your plan? Well, here was our plan to save Medicare and that was to say in The Affordable Care Act, yes, we are going to cut subsidies to the insurance companies that meant that we were bilking the government and the taxpayers, and we were having to overpay them, and, yes, we are going to cut waste and fraud from the Medicare program.

And that's how we are going to save $500 billion. But not only would we not cut a single penny from benefits, but we were actually able to increase benefits while trimming Medicare.

We, you know--so you scared the heck out of seniors but never mentioned, of course, at the same time we reduced the cost of Medicare.

We improved Medicare by adding to its solvency; we closed the doughnut hole, making prescription drugs more affordable; and we provided a wellness exam every year at no cost; and we provided preventive services with no cost sharing. But nevertheless, on television, those ads warned against those Democrats who didn't cut one thing from Medicare and improve it. And now you are saying, well, we are not going to do anything to people 55 and under. To me that sounds like 55 and under, you better look out.

Now, the ads in New York are working because people love their Medicare. And what they don't want to see, you know, all but four Republicans voted to literally end Medicare.

You can call it something else, but you can't call it Medicare because those guaranteed benefits are gone. It makes huge cuts in Medicare benefits. Seniors that fall under the new plan would have to pay about $6,000 more a year. That's what the Congressional Budget Office says, $6,000 more a year out of pocket for their health care, and it would put insurance company bureaucrats in charge of seniors' health care, letting insurers decide what tests and what treatment that seniors get, throwing seniors back into the arms of the insurance companies who have shown no love to them.

And so let's look at what the American people think about Medicare. Well, if you are 65 years and older, 93 percent of Americans say the Medicare program as it is right now is very important or somewhat important to them, actually 83 percent very important.

If they are 55 to 64, 91 percent say Medicare is very important; and if you are 40 to 54, we have got 79 percent of Americans who say the Medicare program is very or somewhat important; and if you are 18 to 39, 75 percent.

People get it. Medicare works. Medicare is efficient. Medicare is good for our country, for people with disabilities and for the seniors. And if we are looking to save Medicare, we do have a plan. We know how to make that more efficient. We have done it in the Affordable Care Act. And we are willing to sit down and talk about how we make Medicare more efficient, but not by ruining, destroying and getting rid of Medicare to the point that you've got to find another name. It won't be Medicare anymore.

And so they've admitted, it seems to me, that people 55 and younger, you better look out. Because that program that will allow our seniors to live perhaps to 90 years old, people who are going to be eligible for Medicare as it is right now will no longer be in place. And we are not talking about rich people----

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