Gilbert Gutknecht: “Unfortunately, we all know what it is going to say. It is going to say that bankruptcy is closing in. That is the bad…”

“Unfortunately, we all know what it is going to say. It is going to say that bankruptcy is closing in. That is the bad news. For 2 years now Medicare part A, the trust fund, has been spending more than it takes in. Medicare is living beyond its means and is rapidly depleting any surplus that it may have built up. That is the bad news. The good news is that we have a plan to protect the trust fund. We can simplify the complicated billing and paperwork. We can offer seniors a choice and use the market system to give people a choice and let them decide what is best for them. We can aggressively fight waste and abuse, which cost billions of dollars to the Medicare fund every year. Mr. Speaker, such a plan was successfully passed in the last Congress. Unfortunately, the President chose to veto it. We have a unique opportunity in this Congress to produce such a solution again. Let us work together on a bipartisan basis, let us seize the day, let us save Medicare.”