Noem Q&A: ‘We voted to save Medicare’ and change system

Posted: Monday, August 22nd Filed in: News

Argus Leader reporters Ledyard King and Jonathan Ellis interviewed Rep. Kristi Noem at her Washington office in July. The following is an excerpt of that interview.

 

QUESTION: You've had an opportunity to get into a groove in terms of your personal and professional lives. How is is working?

 ANSWER: I think we've hit a pretty good routine now, especially the first few months, it's kind of a getting used to the new normal. So, yeah, we've made it home every weekend. This might be the first one we don't actually make it home. But, yeah, it's been going well. It's been busy. This is a very interesting year to have be your first year in Congress. You talk to members who have been here many years and they say, "I've never seen a year like this. This is pretty unique." So its hard to have perspective when it's your first one.

 

Q: Has the family been out to visit?

 A: They all came out for the swearing in. Then each of the kids have come out for a week at a time at different times. Bryon has been out here - I think this is probably his fourth trip, maybe - so he comes out a little more often. So that's good. I think I get more lonesome than they do. You know, they're busy at home. They're playing ball. The girls have been to a lot of camps. They're rodeoing. They've got a lot of activities. We've been trying to get the kids out here one more time before school starts, because that will make it even more difficult to get them out here. I think it helped a lot that once we got them out here. They could see what I do out here. They got to come to meetings and committees with me. And that gave them perspective.

 

Q: Isn't that child abuse?

A: (Laughs) Booker ditched more than the girls did. Kassidy actually took a couple meetings for me. I got tied up and couldn't make it to a couple meetings. I had lunch with a couple of groups, and she goes, "Ill go." I said, "That would be great." And they were thrilled. They visited with her for quite a while.

 

Q: You're accused of voting to end Medicare as we know it. Did you vote to end Medicare as we know it? 

A: Well, we voted to save Medicare. It's going to go broke in nine years if we don't do anything. So the vote that we placed was to save it, and I wholeheartedly believe it was the right decision to make. Especially because if you look at the situation, if we don't fix Medicare now, if we wait two or three years to fix it, there's no way to fix it without cutting benefits to seniors. And that was the one thing we really keyed in on. We wanted to make sure that all those 55 and above, that we keep that plan the same, that there's no changes for them to give them the certainty that they needed in the program. So it's certainly a necessary fix to a program that's not going to be around in the future if we do nothing. The status quo isn't acceptable in my book.

 

Q: If you look at a voucher-type program for Medicare when you retire, that's something you want?

A: It's not a voucher program, though. I think that's something a lot of people like to label it. It's essentially where insurance plans are going to be subsidized by the federal government. So it's not where I get a voucher and pick an insurance plan. It's totally different. It's where the seniors get to come in and pick the plan that best fits them. Then the federal government will step in and subsidize those plans. So the voucher doesn't ever come to the senior and they get out and shop around. It's much more where they get their choice of plans. And to be honest with you, so many seniors right now are being denied care under Medicare. When people talk about cuts to Medicare and the viability of the program, right now we just get story after story of seniors who are being refused care because reimbursement rates are so low and doctors can't afford to treat seniors. So we've been very concerned about that. And Obamacare certainly changed Medicare as we know it - half a trillion dollars in cuts, and the decisions of a 15-member board, it's a lot different than a patient and their doctor making those decisions.