Cutting Medicare Benefits for Seniors Is Wrong (Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite)

I spoke on the floor of the House Wednesday on behalf of the 43,000 senior citizens living in my congressional district who will lose their Medicare benefits if the Democrat SCHIP bill becomes law.

Let me repeat, 43,000 of my constituents, 693,000 Floridians and 8.3 million seniors nationwide will be pushed off Medicare in favor of other priorities.

We are seeing the largest raid on the Medicare Trust Fund seniors have ever seen, with no regard for those who rely on Medicare Advantage for their only access to health care benefits.

Instead of keeping their promise to senior citizens, that Medicare payroll taxes must be reserved for Medicare payments, this Democrat Congress is raiding the Trust Fund and diverting precious Medicare Trust Fund dollars for non-Medicare programs.

It is clear that the sacred trust between seniors and their elected leaders will be torn apart if this bill were to become law.  What senior citizen will ever believe their representative again if we take away their only health care lifeline and support

Protecting the Medicare benefits of my constituents is what I came to Congress for, not to send their Medicare payroll taxes off to other spending that the majority dreamt up in a late-night backroom deal.

The Democrat bill we debated will cut $194 billion in Medicare benefits for American seniors, forcing them to use emergency room medicine or to travel several hours to find a doctor that would take a non-Medicare Advantage plan.

This is a dangerous precedent and breaks faith with the oldest and neediest amongst us. Some of the specific cuts in the House Medicare raid legislation include:

• A 43% cut to patients who rent life-saving oxygen equipment.
• A $7.2 billion cut for home health services.
• A $6.5 billion cut for skilled nursing facilities.

Cutting the only health care program many of my constituents use would be unconscionable and beyond the pale of responsible legislation.

In closing, I would just like to reiterate that cutting Medicare benefits for senior citizens is the wrong way to run this House.

This Democratic leadership needs to rethink its priorities when pushing seniors out of their Medicare plan is their idea of responsible legislation.