Political Quotes

“let me just try to correct the record here. First, the gentlewoman says this program's voluntary. It is not. It affects all of our seniors because my colleagues are affecting their basic program under Medicare fee-for-service which they are changing into a voucher program. Secondly, GAO indicates one-third of our seniors who currently have prescription drug coverage will lose their coverage as a result of the passage of this bill. My colleague mentioned the fact of cost. Yet they should mention the actuaries say we do not save one dime as a result of the passage of this bill; and quoting Mr. Scully, who is the administrator of the program, you know, the bankruptcy problem is a label, largely a cash flow problem, but is the Republican Medicare bill going to save money versus the original program? The answer is no. Let us be frank about it and then we look at the Medicare trustees report which shows we have the healthiest trust fund we have had in recent histories. Let us be straight and honest with the facts. The fact of the matter is that if my colleagues would have adopted our amendment to the bill on setting price, we would have adopted the Canadian system and brought the prices down to what we are paying in Canada, but they rejected that approach.”