Jay Rockefeller: “this next amendment has to do with dual eligibility. Never in the history of Medicare have we precluded Medicare…”

“this next amendment has to do with dual eligibility. Never in the history of Medicare have we precluded Medicare beneficiaries from being Medicare beneficiaries. In the underlying bill, for the very first time, we do. The people I refer to are called dual eligibles. Their average income is $6,500 a year. They tend to be over 85, single women, and very sick. They are on Medicaid. Medicaid, however, is optional according to the States. We know the States to be broke. The fastest growing expense they face is Medicaid. So they are cutting the benefits. They are cutting Medicaid. They will continue to do that. The States have no choice but to cut Medicaid. Some will do it because they wish to, all will do it because they have to. When that possibility is gone, there is no place for these poorest of the poor to go. They are then, under the underlying bill, precluded from being Medicare beneficiaries. That is wrong. In my budget-neutral amendment I attempt to fix it. I hope my colleagues will support the amendment.”