By: Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman released
WASHINGTON, DC July 19, 2011 - Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman released the following statement today as the House considers the extreme Republican “Cut, Cap, and End Medicare and the Health Care Safety Net” plan:
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the Republican plan to end Medicare and the health care safety net.
Republicans are playing a dangerous game of chicken. They are threatening to hold the global economy hostage unless President Obama and the Senate agree to their demands to slash Medicare and Medicaid.
We must reject this assault on seniors, the disabled, and children.
Previous amendments to the Constitution have ended slavery and guaranteed the rights of citizens of all races to equal treatment under the law. They have guaranteed the freedoms of speech and religion, and to protection from unwarranted government intrusions on personal rights.
What great principle do Republicans seek to enshrine into the Constitution today?
· The principle that the rich should never pay more taxes;
· That Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are too expensive for our nation to afford;
· And that the U.S. Congress should be stripped of its ability to increase spending to protect our economy from recession.
Republicans say that they are protecting Medicare for the future – don't buy it. That’s what they told us about their budget plan. It wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true now.
Republicans tried to end Medicare as we know it in the budget they passed in April. Public outrage stalled their plans. So today they have a new approach: Pass a constitutional amendment that that would make it impossible for Congress to continue to fund Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Their objective is to end Medicare as we know it, repealing its guarantees of coverage for hospital care, chemotherapy, doctor’s visits, and prescription drugs. In its place they would create a voucher system – and yes, it is a voucher. Seniors would be forced into the private market to buy health insurance with only limited financial support from the government.
This plan will increase premiums and cost sharing by $6,000 per person. And they want to write it into the Constitution!
And they want to destroy Medicaid too. Republicans would cut Medicaid in half by 2022, leaving tens of millions of people without access to care. People in nursing homes would be cut off. They would also slash support for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, jeopardizing access to care for 8 million kids.
Medicaid is the primary payer for long-term care and the home and community-based services that help people stay out of nursing homes. Who will now bear the $72,000 per year cost of a nursing home for an 85-year old grandmother who collects $10,000 a year in Social Security benefits? Her children will try, but only the rich will be able to afford the costs in today’s economy.
This is a complete abdication of our commitment to providing care with dignity for our seniors.
The Republican proposal has other deplorable consequences. It would make it impossible to invest in biomedical research to find tomorrow’s cures and technologies for cancer, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease. It would effectively foreclose the possibility that Congress could address climate change by putting a price on carbon emissions. It would cripple the FDA, threatening the safety of our pharmaceuticals and our food.
This is an extreme and dangerous proposal. Instead of holding our seniors hostage, we need to work together to pass a realistic compromise that will ensure we honor our debt while lowering our deficit.
I urge a no vote on this legislation.
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