Every year, we get what’s called a Medicare Trustees report.
I come to the floor to comment on that.
We all know that Medicare is very much a part of America’s social fabric.
For decades, Medicare has provided seniors and people with disabilities access to routine and life-saving care at their local hospital, doctor’s office and pharmacy.
The Trustees reported, as they do every year, that Medicare’s Part A Hospital Insurance Trust Fund is expected to be depleted by 2033.
This is three years ahead of the projections that came out in last year’s report.
This results from higher-than-expected expenditures, [and] the growth in inpatient hospital and hospice spending.
Also, for now the eighth year in a row, the Trustees have issued what they call a “funding warning.”
This is because Medicare’s outlays for its two trust funds are expected to exceed its dedicated revenues by 45 percent.
When Congress established this combined funding warning report in the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, we intended, here in the Senate, for Congress and the President to respond with solutions.
We should listen to this actuarial report, get on the job and do something to preserve the Medicare program.
Now, we all know that we talk more often about Social Security running out of money.
I want to preserve and strengthen the Medicare program for future generations, just like I would say the same thing about the Social Security program.
The only way to make these critical programs sustainable is to follow the Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill model.
This goes back to 1983, when the Social Security system was running out of money.
Ronald Reagan, a Republican, Tip O’Neill, Speaker of the House, a Democrat, got together and sa[id], “We can’t let that happen.”
And they made sure it didn’t happen, and what they devised [is what] I had a chance to vote for in 1983 or [1984]...
They fixed it for 50 years, because that’s 50 years coming to 2033 when Social Security, likewise, will run out of money.
Now, I’ve come to the conclusion that when you have President Biden and candidate Trump both running in 2024, that they aren’t going to do anything to fix Social Security.
Why isn’t it being done?
I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not being done because we don’t have any Ronald Reagans or Tip O’Neills in Washington, D.C., or in our government anymore.
So, they did it in a bipartisan way, and Congress should step up the same way to deal with this Medicare issue that I’m talking about. But there’s no reason to leave Social Security out of that debate as well.
So, I get back to some role that I played in the Medicare issues of 2003, when I led the effort to modernize Medicare by establishing the prescription drug program.
Because, prior to 2003, since 1965, Medicare never covered prescription drugs.
So since 2003, we’ve had a prescription drug program under Medicare.
In the first decade of the Medicare Part D program, the federal government spent – can you believe it – 36 percent less than what was projected to be spent, as we wrote this legislation.
And it also improved access to prescription drugs for millions of seniors.
Separately, Senate Republicans through the One Big Beautiful Bill strengthened Medicare.
We did that by ensuring that Medicare resources are going to Americans, instead of illegal immigrants and those not here permanently.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that we will save the Medicare system [over] $5 billion.
Now, that’s a spit in the ocean compared to what we face with this 45 percent overrun that the Trustees talked about.
A step in the right direction, of course it is, but it’s no substitute for what’s really needed in this town: a bipartisan cooperation and presidential leadership – either Republican or Democrat – that is needed to address our long-term Medicare funding challenges.
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