Rob Andrews: “For years, working Americans, paycheck after paycheck, week after week, have paid taxes into the Medicare trust fund.…”

“For years, working Americans, paycheck after paycheck, week after week, have paid taxes into the Medicare trust fund. And after they paid those taxes, this country made a promise to them that Medicare's guaranteed benefits would be there for them for the rest of their life. The issue before the House today is whether we honor or dishonor that promise. The Republican plan to abandon Medicare abandons those guaranteed benefits. The Republican plan to abandon Medicare says that rather than seniors and their doctors deciding what care the seniors should get, private health insurance companies make that decision. Part of the promise of Medicare was that health care would be reasonably affordable to our seniors and retirees. The Republican plan to abandon Medicare violates that promise. It raises the out-of-pocket cost of health care for our seniors by $6,000 a year. We agree that Medicare needs improvement and that Medicare outlays need to be restrained. That's why we support giving the Medicare administration the same authority to negotiate prescription drug prices that the VA has, instead of just paying whatever the drug companies demand. The issue in this vote is not simply the value of Medicare; the issue in this vote is whether Americans can value the promise that we made to them in the future. Vote against this rule; vote to honor the promise of Medicare.”