Timothy Roemer: “Mr. Speaker, President Harry Truman received the very first honorary card from President Johnson when Medicare was…”

“Mr. Speaker, President Harry Truman received the very first honorary card from President Johnson when Medicare was created. We need some Truman honesty about what this bill is about. Charles Kahn, the president of the Health Insurance Association of America, a group comprised of 294 insurance companies, said this, quote, ``we will withhold judgment on the House Republican bill until we see its details. Nevertheless, we continue to believe that the concept of a so-called drug-only private insurance simply would not work in practice,'' unquote. I am the first to work in a bipartisan way around here on balancing the budget, reforming welfare, improving education; but a plan has to be given to me that will work. This will not work. The insurance companies who are getting the subsidy even say it will not work. Mr. Kahn says wait until we see the details. What is the copay? We do not know. What are the deductibles? We do not know. What are the premiums? We do not know. Let us sit down in a bipartisan way after we reject this plan and work for the senior citizens of this country to get a plan based on Medicare that will work.”