Todd Tiahrt: “the Republican Party has come up with a plan, a specific plan, that will preserve and protect Medicare for our parents…”

“the Republican Party has come up with a plan, a specific plan, that will preserve and protect Medicare for our parents and our grandparents. What is wonderful about this plan is that it will still balance the budget, which will secure a future for our children. No seniors will be forced from Medicare. Seniors will have the right to alternative choices. They will have the right to stay with their current doctor or hospital. Over the course of the next hour, we hope to talk about some of the specifics of this plan. We also want to address some of the real needs that have been created by this plan running down the wrong path for some time. I want to start out with a chart that shows what the President's Social Security Medicare Board of Trustees report has said. There are three members of this Board of Trustees that are from President Clinton's Cabinet, and as you can see in this chart here, it says ``The fund is projected to be exhausted in 2001.'' That means by the year 2002, Medicare is going to have a very serious problem.”