Susan Collins: “The theme here from the other side is that we are harming Medicare insurance for our seniors. Well, as a Member of…”

“The theme here from the other side is that we are harming Medicare insurance for our seniors. Well, as a Member of Congress and as an individual, that is the farthest thing from my mind. Good Lord willing, one of these days I will be covered under this Medicare insurance myself. Do my colleagues think I want to do something that will destroy it? Heavens, no. A lot has been said about the fact that this is going to take $117 billion over the next 10 years from the Medicare Trust Fund. It will not. The additional tax or additional income that was subjected to tax in the 1993 tax bill was an income tax. Income tax goes into the treasury, into the general fund. There was a provision in that bill at that time that required a like amount to be transferred to the Medicare trust fund account or credited to it. This does the same thing. The only thing this does, it repeals the provision of law that was implemented in 1993. But it still requires a like amount to go into the Medicare or credited to the Medicare account, not one red cent less. We are not taking anything from the Medicare trust fund.”