Joe Biden: “this budget bill--which would put us on a path to eliminating the budget deficit in the year 2002--contains numerous…”

“this budget bill--which would put us on a path to eliminating the budget deficit in the year 2002--contains numerous reforms of the Medicare program. In addition, the bill would restore short-term solvency to Part A of Medicare--the part that pays hospital bills and will otherwise be bankrupt in four years. I have no objection to most of the Medicare reform provisions, and I will vote for this bill overall. However, I want to talk briefly about two provisions that I oppose and explain why I voted to take them out of this bill. First, Mr. President, this bill would raise the age at which a person becomes eligible for Medicare from the current age 65 to age 67. I voted to keep the eligibility age at 65. While this increase would be gradual and would be phased in over the next 30 years--so it would not affect any current seniors--I think it moves us in the wrong direction. What we should be doing is making sure that more, not fewer, people have health insurance. Changing the current law so that today's workers will have to wait until they are 66 or 67 before they become eligible for Medicare threatens to add millions of people to the rolls of the uninsured.”