Gilbert Gutknecht: “Many of the Members of our freshman class are baby boomers, and I think we do come here with a special responsibility.…”

“Many of the Members of our freshman class are baby boomers, and I think we do come here with a special responsibility. Both of my parents are on Medicare, and we have a special responsibility to our kids. The debate about Medicare and the debate about Medicaid is really a debate between those people who fundamentally believe in Government control, and in Government decisions, and in Government bureaucracy, and between those who want to give people choices and options, who believe in freedom and in markets. Mr. Speaker, we believe that if we get more freedom, if we get more market working out there, if we get real market forces controlling this thing, we can absolutely control the cost. It is happening in the private sector. The average cost of health care increases over the last 18 months in the private sector has been something like 1.1 percent. On the government side, when you are talking about Medicare or Medicaid, it has been over 10 percent. We believe this system is going to work, and my sense is, some people on the other side fear it is going to work.”