John Cornyn: “I would like to ask my colleague one final question. Whenever we talk about reforming, saving, and securing Medicare so…”

“I would like to ask my colleague one final question. Whenever we talk about reforming, saving, and securing Medicare so we can keep the promise we made to seniors that when people reach the appropriate age, they can actually qualify for this benefit and it actually will be there for them--and people do, in fact, pay into this fund, and they expect to get their money's worth back--sometimes the charge is made that various reform proposals will destroy Medicare as we know it. I would like to ask the Senator from Wyoming, a medical doctor by profession, whether Medicare as we know it, as currently constructed under the President's health care bill, with this IPAB provision in place--does it have any chance of survival as it currently operates now with this new board of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats setting prices and limiting access? Because doctors and hospitals simply cannot afford to provide the service at that cost. Doesn't that have the potential to radically transform Medicare as people have come to know it?”