A reform that includes accumulated savings has a huge advantage.

Tax increases are not the answer. Tax increases will not bring the spending growth in line with GDP growth, and will be economically destructive.

Lower-income workers have not enjoyed the extension of life expectancy that others have.

Both the Social Security and Medicare programs face substantial financing shortfalls that require legislative corrections.

They collect nothing. They have nothing--nothing to pass on to their kids.

the program is insolvent. The present value of the promised benefits is much greater than the present value of the revenue that is meant to pay those benefits.

I am in favor of a broad, comprehensive reform, but if that remains as elusive as it has been, a simple idea of asking the wealthiest Americans to pay more for the benefit they get strikes me as a very reasonable thing in and of itself.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

It is going to be hard to reach agreement if something as common-sense as asking wealthy Americans to pay more for their Medicare has to come at the price of, in addition, raising taxes.

We have no cure. We have no meaningful treatment really, even.

It seems that if you live long enough, chances are very, very high you are going to get Alzheimer's.

So can you assure us that any surpluses that come into this account by virtue of the government's take on insurance companies' profits, or any taxpayer bail-outs of insurance companies that have losses, any of that will be precisely…