Eliot Engel: “I wanted to again raise the issue of the President's proposal for expanding Medicare, because I think that that is…”

“I wanted to again raise the issue of the President's proposal for expanding Medicare, because I think that that is really one of the new proposals that we are going to really have to deal with in this Congress. And I really think that the American people really are interested in it and I think are overwhelmingly in support of it. And I would hope that it does not get buried in the general discussion of health care. Again, and my colleague was with us when we had the hearings, we had three witnesses all in the category of the 62 to 64 range, age range, and they pointed out that they are the most vulnerable in terms of having no health coverage whatsoever. These are all, again, working people. There is nothing that aggravates me more, because I represent a working class, a middle class district in New York, of people who have worked hard all their lives, who have played by the rules, who are not looking for handouts, who do not want anything to which they are not entitled, who suddenly find themselves in need, after playing by the rules all their lives, and we say to them, sorry, we cannot help you. That is wrong. And the people who fit into that category, between 62 and 64 and 65, ought to be helped. And people who are 55 and older, who are retired or laid off or unemployed, ought to be helped as well.”