Pete Stark: “Mr. Speaker, insofar as the Medicare provisions in this bill are concerned, it is a matter of record that we have had…”

“Mr. Speaker, insofar as the Medicare provisions in this bill are concerned, it is a matter of record that we have had strong bipartisan cooperation and agreement in the House. My remarks today are designed to amplify the problems in the Senate bill and for whatever other effect we may have is to give us a stronger hand in dealing with the Senate in conference, which indeed has been a tradition of motions to instruct for many years. A vote by this House representing the strong feelings that we have in support of our bill is an aid in negotiating and to show that we have the support of the American people. The Senate has basically taken a silk purse and turned it into a sow's ear. We find this morning a poll of the Washington Post that says 64 percent of the people oppose extending the wait for Medicare to age 67. The AARP bulletin, which I now get, Mr. Speaker, says that the Medicare measure takes the wrong turn. That is in relationship to the Senate bill. The Senate also allows doctors to bill patients more, or extra. It allows doctors to force patients to give up Medicare if they want certain specialty care from these doctors. It cuts payments to the Nation's safety net hospitals by 20 percent. It increases home health care cost in the Nation's frailest and sickest by $760 a year.”