Debbie Dingell: “I am Mr. John Dingell. My dad was the original author of Medicare. He wrote it for and under Harry Truman's guidance and…”

“I am Mr. John Dingell. My dad was the original author of Medicare. He wrote it for and under Harry Truman's guidance and tutelage. It was a great piece of legislation. It took us 10 years to get it enacted into law. I sat in the Chair when we passed it. The Republicans, after years of fighting it, finally came along and supported it because they saw the handwriting on the wall. I know Medicare, and this fraudulent proposal that is before the House is not Medicare. What it is is a subsidy for the insurance companies. We give a pile of money to the insurance companies that they can spend any way they want. The counsel of the committee was inquired of by me for about 20 minutes. He could not tell us of any constraints on the insurance companies or any rights of the insured that would be protected under this Republican legislation. That is why this is bad legislation. The insurance companies can take this money and spend it any doggone way they want, dividends, or they can give it in corporate executive salaries and bonuses. That is why it is a bad bill. The Democratic bill is a very simple bill. What it does is it says, you pay $25 a month, you get 80 percent of your prescription pharmaceuticals paid for by the government, and you pay 20 percent of the cost yourself. Very simple, very understandable, very plain. No great big donut hole, no disqualifications for having your expenditures counted, and you get your benefits all year round.”