On the recordApril 9, 2014
I hope all Members of the House will check the facts with respect to the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Medicare. If you actually look at what has happened since the Affordable Care Act was enacted, the per capita rate of increase in health care costs in this country has actually gone down. Talk to seniors on Medicare. Anybody who is paying attention right now, I ask them: What has their Part B premium done over the last couple of years? It has been steadier. In fact, this year, it went down in real terms. The value that seniors have gotten under Medicare has actually improved significantly, in part, due to the Affordable Care Act. Now, unlike the Democratic budget, which used some of the savings from getting rid of overpayments to some of the big insurance companies in Medicare and using those savings to strengthen things like the prescription drug benefit, the Republican budget keeps every dime of the Medicare savings from the Affordable Care Act, but they don't use any of it to strengthen Medicare. In fact, they reopen the prescription drug doughnut hole. They start charging seniors now for preventative health services. Ultimately, they actually end the Medicare guarantee by turning Medicare into a voucher program, so that, if you actually wanted to stay in traditional Medicare, you would be paying a whopping high premium.…
