John W. Olver: “every senior citizen in this country needs to understand what is going on here. The Republicans are going to cut $270…”

“every senior citizen in this country needs to understand what is going on here. The Republicans are going to cut $270 billion out of Medicare. To make these huge cuts the Republicans will demand more copayments, raise deductibles, and hike premiums. I say to my colleagues, ``You will wake up in the year 2000 and your $46-a-month premium will be at least doubled. Your $100 deductible will be more than double. You will have to pay 20 percent of any home care or rehabilitation care that you need out of your own pocket even if your only income is Social Security.'' Why are the Republicans making these huge cuts? To give $245 billion in tax cuts, yet more than half of these cuts will go to people earning more than $100,000 a year. I say to my colleagues, ``That's easily 10 times your income on Social Security.'' Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleagues, ``The Republicans think Medicare is the bank of the budget. They'll pull up to the bank window, withdraw your money, and put it right into the pockets of the richest Americans who simply don't care whether you get needed health care or not.''”