Political Quotes

“Thank you, Dr. Bera. I appreciate your focus on this and pointing out that this is something that shouldn't be a partisan issue, doesn't have to be a partisan issue, and it is in fact a success story that has made a huge difference in the lives of seniors from coast to coast. It's helped, in many cases, stabilize what's happened in terms of local health care economics. The pattern that we have seen in escalating health care costs for the last 40 years, yes, there are concerns about health care as it relates to Medicare; but if you compare the rate of increase of private health insurance versus the rate of increase in Medicare, Medicare spending has not gone up as rapidly as what's happened with the private insurance sector. No senior citizen under Medicare needs to go bankrupt because of medical costs. The security that you mentioned, I find it embarrassing and shameful that the United States is the only major country in the world where there are still people going bankrupt for health care costs. Half of all bankruptcies are a result of health care emergencies. It doesn't have to be this way, and it is not that way for American seniors. But if we're going to change our health care commitment to our senior citizens, taking away the guarantee of Medicare, flinging people into an uncertain private market that failed them in the past, which is why we had Medicare in the first place, that guarantee is not certain to be there.…”