here in Congress when we debate Medicare we talk in terms of hundreds of billions of dollars. When my constituent Herb McCullough looks at Medicare cuts he thinks in terms of hundreds of dollars. Herb lives on $640 a month from Social Security and a union pension. His Medicare and Medigap expenses are more than $80 a month. Thanks to subsidized housing, rent is $164 a month. After other expenses--food, clothing, phone--Herb will be lucky to have $87 left each month. Recently Herb had to buy two new hearing aids. He took $500 from his pension but still has to pay $100 a month. How would Herb get by if he had a prescription drug bill like his neighbor--$164 a month? I urge my colleagues to think of people like Herb when voting to raise Medicare copayments to $110 a month.
Patrick Kennedy: “here in Congress when we debate Medicare we talk in terms of hundreds of billions of dollars. When my constituent Herb…”
Editor's note · Context
Discussing the impact of Medicare cuts on low-income constituents during a floor speech.
Share
More from Patrick Kennedy
It is true that, this week, we are celebrating the Mental Health Awareness Month, and it is appropriate as we celebrate it, to reflect on what we are doing as a Nation to address mental illness in this country. We have 271 cosponsors of…
in closing, when the sarin gas attack happened in Japan, 90 percent of the people who went to the hospital had no infection or exposure to the sarin gas whatsoever. People died at the hospital because the medical teams were not able to…
the gentleman has mentioned prescription drugs a number of times. I think it is analogous to this debate, because that was a debate that took place late at night, and you used the elderly and their need of prescription drugs to pass a…
as of today, a bipartisan majority of the House has cosponsored the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equity Treatment Act. This marks the fifth year in a row that the majority of our colleagues have supported ending this arbitrary insurance…





