Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada’s Third District spoke on the House floor tonight during a Democratic special order hour on protecting Medicare.  Below are her remarks as delivered.

“Well thank you very much, and thank you for leadership on this issue and for organizing tonight’s discussion about something that is so important.  Nevada has had the fastest growing senior population in the country for the last decade and even though we have slowed down a little generally, that percentage is expected to continue, so you can imagine what an important issue this is for me.  And like Mr. Garamendi, my mother too is on Medicare, so I can’t imagine why anybody would think we would want to hurt Medicare benefits when our own mothers are beneficiaries along with so many other seniors in this country. 

“I share your frustration, because I have had a lady follow me around to some of our town hall meetings wearing a t-shirt that says, “I’m the grandmother you want to kill.”  She believed those early ads about the death panels in the health care bill.  So there is an awful lot of misinformation out there that we need to correct and that’s why a discussion like this is so important.

“You know, generations of America’s seniors have relied on Medicare in their golden years and we must ensure that it is there for them in the future.  This means that we need health care reform as you have described on your chart there that strengthens Medicare.  Rising health care costs threaten our current Medicare system.  We need to be sure that it remains solvent.  We have to enact reform that strengthens Medicare’s financial footing and extends the life of the Medicare trust fund.  We also must bring down those prescription drug costs.  We need to reduce costs for both Medicare and for seniors individually and close the donut hole that so many of our seniors fall into, forcing them to choose between life-saving medication and other necessities, like buying groceries or paying the power bill.

“It is because of my commitment to Nevada’s seniors that I was proud to support the House health care reform bill, because in addition to the things that I just mentioned and you all have been talking about, it also benefited seniors by removing lifetime caps on coverage and included free preventive care – in other words, no co-pays on important tests like mammograms and colonoscopies.  So I am hopeful that these reforms will be things that we can enact in the coming days, and I look forward to seeing that final health care language to be sure that they are in there.

“You know, I’m dedicated to protecting Medicare and I know how important it is for the seniors in District Three.  I would never do anything that would reduce or undermine the care that they receive.

“That is why I introduced legislation, and I appreciate all of your support on it, that protects seniors from increases in their Medicare premiums.  It is called the Medicare Premium Fairness Act, and I introduced it last year and it would protect seniors from an increase in their premiums.  In past years, seniors have received a cost-of-living increase in their Social Security to offset any increase in their Medicare premium.  Well this year, for the first time in 35 years, seniors are not receiving that cost-of-living increase, meaning that higher Medicare premiums would result in lower Social Security benefits for a net loss.  For seniors on fixed incomes who count on every dollar just to get by, this is unacceptable because they will be receiving less in Social Security.  My bill would protect all seniors from an increase in those Medicare premiums this year until the cost of living kicks in in the future.

“Unfortunately, and how many times have we seen this, and I’m expressing my personal frustration but also of this body I believe, one Republican in the Senate has held up the speedy passage of this bill that is so important to seniors.  This shouldn’t be allowed to happen because it’s too important in the lives of the American people.  So I’m going to continue to fight to see that this bill becomes law and in a way that would be retroactive to help the seniors who may have already seen those deductions kick in.

“So thank you again for having this discussion.  Medicare is critical to the health and well-being of our seniors, and I look forward to working with you on the Seniors Task Force to highlight and advocate on these important issues that affect our senior population.”

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Tags: health care, seniors