Political Quotes

“I want to alert Members about a very disturbing proposal recently offered by the chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health. This proposal would charge senior citizens in this country an $8 co-payment for Medicare home health care visits. At present, as you know, these visits are now without cost for the patient. Mr. Speaker, in my judgment, if this very terrible proposal were ever passed into law, and let us make sure that it is not, it would cause enormous pain and hardship for some of the weakest and most vulnerable people in this country, low income and sick elderly people. Why, in God's name, would we be making life more difficult for so many people who today are finding it difficult just to pay their bills? Mr. Speaker, as you know, nearly half of all senior citizens in our country have incomes of less than $15,000 a year, and about 12 percent of them live in poverty. Many of them today are finding it extremely difficult to pay their bills, to provide for their prescription drugs and to take care of their other basic necessities of life. The thought of forcing sick, fragile, low-income seniors to pick up a new cost which for someone requiring home health care visits 7 days a week could run as high as $2,500 a year is literally beyond comprehension.”