On the recordMarch 10, 2010
The people back home want health care reform, but they certainly want the kind that is going to lower health care costs and lower health care premiums. The actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are called on to tell us the numbers as they see them. They had no choice but to answer the question accurately and the question is not one that lends itself to getting public support for this plan. I think that is why the poll numbers Senator Brownback mentioned are there. There is only about 25 percent of the American public that believes at this point we should pass this huge Senate bill lock, stock, and barrel and send it to the President for his signature. Senator Barrasso mentioned the $1/2 trillion cut in Medicare. Some of our friends on the other side of the aisle suggested this--the programs that were cut should not be considered part of the Medicare Program.
