On the recordApril 9, 2014
Once again, through the Ryan budget, House leadership is seeking to balance the budget on the backs of hard-working American families and seniors, undermining the economic recovery, and ending the Medicare guarantee. As an emergency medicine physician, I know firsthand that many of the seniors I care for rely on the Medicare they have earned. In fact, in Riverside County, California, alone over 250,000 seniors rely on Medicare. Our priority should be reducing health care costs in order to make Medicare stronger and more sustainable, but this budget transforms Medicare into a voucher program, shifting the costs of health care to our seniors and ending Medicare as we know it. We must work together to protect and preserve Medicare, reduce our deficit, and decrease health care costs. The Ryan budget is not the way to do that. This proposal has the wrong priorities for Riverside County, California, and our Nation. I urge my colleagues to end the partisan political gamesmanship and put American families and our seniors first. ____________________
