Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2013

Floor Speech

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Mrs. LUMMIS. I want to applaud House Republicans for putting this budget forward. And here's why we're trying to save Medicare. Do you see this little green line? That's our Medicare revenue. Now, do you see this huge Medicare green line? This is how much we're spending on Medicare. Now, that's just in the last year. So if you extend that forward, you can see why Medicare as it exists is going broke. So that's why I'm so proud of the House Budget Committee.

What they've chosen to do is come up with a plan that will save Medicare in this way: if you want to keep Medicare, you can keep it. But if you want something like we Members of Congress have, you can elect to have that too. Now, here's what I have as a Member of Congress. When I came in as a Member of Congress, I had a preexisting condition, but the Federal Government couldn't turn me down because of that preexisting condition to acquire insurance. That's the way it would be under Medicare.

Further, I have a choice between about 10 plans. I chose a standard Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, and I knew I could get it filled anywhere in the country, including my rural State of Wyoming. I pay 28 percent of my premium. The Federal Government, the taxpayers, pay 72 percent of my premium. That's basically what they're proposing. You'd have a choice among plans. And you would pay part of the premium, and the government would pay part of the premium. If you're healthy or wealthy, you'd pay more of your premium. If you're unhealthy or unwealthy, you'd pay less of your premium.

Now, you could either choose that, if that was something you've become accustomed to, or if you wanted to choose to be on Medicare as you know it today, that would also be a choice. It seems to me, Madam Chairman, that's a great choice. I support the Republican budget.

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