Congresswoman Brown Speaks Out On Social Security and Medicaid

June 7, 2005

CONGRESSWOMAN BROWN SPEAKS OUT ON
SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICAID
By U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown

There are so many issues on the Democratic agenda that could be discussed at length, ranging from the war in Iraq, to homeland security, to the environment, to the administration's excessive tax cuts for the rich, to education policy. Yet to me, the issue that is at the forefront of debate right now is health care, and social security.

Being from Florida, I am especially concerned about how the President's health care plans will affect our state. Florida is a state with one of the highest percentages of retired people in the nation. Obviously, our nation's elderly often have greater health problems, higher hospital and prescription bills, and of course, more doctor bills than the younger generations do. In fact, I visited a hospital just last week in Jacksonville, and one of the patients there was being operated on for an in operative brain tumor. And one of the main reasons his condition had gotten so severe is that he hadn't been to the doctor in over ten years because he couldn't afford it! Now that is outright shameful.

Insofar as the poor and working class are concerned, over 50 million of our country's most vulnerable citizens rely on our nation's Medicaid program to cover their health care costs. Medicaid, the public health insurance program that provides low-income Americans (including children, people with disabilities and the elderly) with access to quality health care, plays a critical role in our nation's health care system. However, the Bush budget makes drastic cuts to this program, and slashes $60 billion for Medicaid funding over the next ten years! Let me repeat that: $60 billion! Unfortunately, what will wind up happening is that these cuts, if they're carried out, will merely shift the payments for Medicaid to the states, who are already struggling financially.

Indeed, the Democratic Party is ready and willing to work with the President and the Governors to strengthen and increase the efficiency of the Medicaid program, so that it can continue to provide quality health care to needy American families. But the Administration must commit to working with us, and make improvements to their plan that do not shift costs to the states, protect beneficiaries from losing access to affordable benefits, and work to preserve the fundamental guarantee of health insurance coverage for not just a few, but for all Americans!

What is also of great concern to me is President Bush's plan for privatizing social security, which clearly, will dry up our country's retirement savings. Indeed, this poorly thought plan is bad for America, it's bad for our senior citizens, and it is especially bad for women, for minorities and for children.

The Republican plan is mainly based on an idea to allow younger workers to create private accounts to invest toward social security. And even though The White House refers to their plan as "ownership," in reality, it is quite obvious that this is a plan to privatize the system, just like they are secretly planning to do with Medicare and Medicaid, to let it all "wither on the vine" as they so arrogantly say.

In fact, even partial privatization of the system would take away nearly $2 trillion from Social Security in the next decade alone, and would endanger the benefits of current retirees and people with disabilities. What's more, the President's plan, if enacted, could lead to direct benefit cuts by almost 50 percent for future generations of Americans. For my state of Florida, where nearly 20% of the State relies on Social Security, this extreme decline in funding would be just disastrous for Florida residents.

Moreover, for the nearly 5 million African Americans who receive Social Security, this plan could prove to be devastating. Without Social Security, poverty rates for African American seniors could more than double because on average, Social Security provides about three-quarters of all retirement income for African American seniors, while 40% of African American seniors rely on Social Security for all of their income entirely.

Back in Washington, my Democratic colleagues and I are fighting to protect the Social Security benefits that Americans have earned, and I can assure you that we will NEVER support a plan that makes Social Security even worse by draining almost $5 trillion from Social Security money and adding it to the debt. All that privatizing Social Security will do is force America to borrow trillions of dollars, and push our nation's future generations further and further into debt.

From the outset, since Social Security was created back in 1935 by Democrats, the system has served to ensure that hard working Americans get what they deserve: security in retirement. Beyond a doubt, Social Security should not be spent on anything but what it was intended to be spent on! I dare the President to change gears, and come up with real plans for Social Security, for Medicare, and for Medicaid, to come up with a plan that does not drastically reduce assistance for our nation's sick and elderly, but instead, of a plan that would serve and actually benefit the people of this great nation!

http://www.house.gov/corrinebrown/ccorner109/cc_050607_socialsecurityandmedicaid.htm