Frank Pallone: “on previous occasions during these special orders I have talked about the impact of the Republican cuts in Medicare and…”

“on previous occasions during these special orders I have talked about the impact of the Republican cuts in Medicare and the fact that the Republican leadership proposals on Medicare would cut the Medicare Program so much that most of the money, or a good percentage of the money that would be cut, would be used for tax breaks for wealthy Americans and also that the changes in the Medicare Program that have been proposed by the Republican leadership would negatively impact the Medicare Program by essentially depriving many senior citizens of their choice of doctor, pushing them into managed care programs; if they did not go into managed care of HMO programs, they would actually experience rather large increases in out-of-pocket expenses because the protections that exist under current law whereby a doctor can charge only 15 percent more than what Medicare pays would basically be repealed. I have been very critical of the various components of the Medicare Program that the Republicans have proposed.”