Political Quotes

“I would like first to thank our revered chairman for his concise and comprehensive account of this epic legislation. It comes to the floor from a unanimous Finance Committee. These are the first substantive changes made in Medicare and Medicaid since these measures were enacted a generation ago. I was present in 1965. I am here in 1997. I so state, our problem --and it is a curious problem in social policy, is that I am not sure we will be heard because we are not making enough noise. And we are not making enough noise, Mr. President, for the simple reason that we are in agreement. We have changed our minds about certain basic things. We have recognized the events of the past generation that require us to do so. We came into these programs little expecting how much they would come to take over in the Federal fisc at a time when medicine was just on the verge of a great shift in its capacity, its ability to cure, to treat, to heal. Fee for service was the only form of medicine available to most persons, not otherwise known, and Medicaid was thought to be a very minor aside. We reached a point where health care, partly because we have so much better health care, became hugely expensive. The chairman noted that in 1992, Medicaid grew by 29 percent. Mr. President, that means it doubles every 3 years, or more accurately, doubles every 30 months. You cannot sustain that.…”