Expiring Medicare Program Needs Urgent Consideration
Kucinich gave the following speech in Congress on September 29, 2005:
"Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of the House a matter that really needs urgent consideration. There are 160,000 elderly and disabled Americans who depend on Medicare part B, a program called the QI program, qualified individual. That program is due to expire on Friday. That program, that benefit, pays Medicare part B benefits to people with incomes that are 120 percent to 135 percent of the Federal poverty level. How that translates is that people who are making less than $1,092 per month as an individual or $1,459 per couple, they are due to lose their benefit which, for some people, would be almost 10 percent of their income. The Medicare part B insurance program covers medical services like physician service, lab service, durable medical equipment, outpatient and home health visits. We have a bipartisan bill sponsored by myself and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette), H.R. 3800. We have to act in the next 24 hours to save the financial condition for 160,000 elderly and disabled Americans."
[Ed. note: H.R. 3800 is a bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to extend for 1 year the qualified individual (QI) program of Medicare cost-sharing assistance to low-income Medicare beneficiaries. Congressman Kucinich introduced H.R. 3800 on September 15, 2005, when it was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. As of October 4 it had 14 co-sponsors and had yet to be received by the Library of Congress from the Government Printing Office.]
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