Political Quotes

“the Medicare Commission is expecting to hold its final meeting today. The commission's leaders are advancing a voucher plan called premium support that will end Medicare's guarantee of equal health care to the wealthy, the middle class and the poor. The plan would steer Medicare more into the private sector than at any time in its history. As former Speaker Gingrich infamously said, Medicare would wither on the vine. Privatize Medicare in order to save it. Clearly, the private insurance market has not provided for the common good. A Nation with our wealth should not leave 43 million of its citizens without health care. The Labor Department shows unemployment still holding steady at 4.4 percent, a rate not seen since 1970. Meanwhile, the proportion of Americans without health insurance has increased from 14 percent in 1995, to 15 percent in 1996, to 16 percent in 1997. Turning Medicare over to insurance companies, privatizing it in order to save it, will create two Medicares, one for the wealthy and one underfunded program for the poor and middle class. We should reject that thinking, Mr. Speaker.”