Political Quotes

“we have heard quite a bit of debate in recent weeks over Medicare and then $270 billion cut that we are proposing to make in Medicare. Of course every time I begin discussion of this with various people, I am asked time and time again to give the difference in what we are talking about as we talk about part A and part B. I want to take just a moment, Mr. Speaker, to talk about those two separate parts, to explain the difference so that people out there listening will get an idea of what we are talking about, because it is very important for them to understand that all of this debate that we are undertaking here sometimes has very little to do with what really ails them. Medicare has two separate parts, Medicare part A and Medicare part B. Medicare part A is the Medicare hospital insurance program which mostly covers inpatient hospital stays. Medicare part A is financed through the Medicare trust fund. Like Social Security, employers and workers pay into the Medicare trust fund while an individual is working through a dedicated payroll tax, a 1.45-percent tax paid by employers and a 1.45-percent tax paid by workers. Medicare part B is the Medicare medical insurance program which covers such other medical services as doctor services, hospital outpatient services, clinical, laboratories, and durable medical equipment. Medicare part B is financed in a completely different way than Medicare part A.”