What I am saying is all health care has a problem with costs. Medicare is growing slower than the private insurance plans. Why? Because of their efficiency. They don't have to give money to shareholders. Why should be defending shareholders?

Do you know what the overhead is of the Medicare system? One-point-zero-five percent. Do you know what - private insurance is 30 percent in overhead and profits? Given a choice how I'm going to improve health care I'm going to take it away from private insurance profits and overhead. Wouldn't you?

I believe the most important aspect of Medicare is not the structure of the program but the guarantee to all Americans that they will have high quality health care as they get older.

I have long said there are three distinct groups under the GOP's tent: theological warriors who want to impose their social views on the rest of society Tea Party zealots who say with a straight face that they want the government to get out of their Medicare and remnants of the pro-business moderates.

The American people I talk to don't spend every moment thinking 'How can I tax my neighbor more than they're being taxed?' They say 'How can I get a good job? How can my kids get good jobs? How can seniors have a confidence in their future when they know that Social Security Medicare and Medicaid are bankrupt?'

It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week the minimum wage family leave health insurance Social Security Medicare retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.

The public has lost faith in the ability of Social Security and Medicare to provide for old age. They've lost faith in the banking system and in conventional medical insurance.

My votes against the education bill and my votes against the Medicare bill got huge play at home.

We can't get to the $4 trillion in savings that we need by just cutting the 12 percent of the budget that pays for things like medical research and education funding and food inspectors and the weather service. And we can't just do it by making seniors pay more for Medicare.

Traditionally Medicare's assurance has been that for the elderly and persons with disabilities that they will not be alone when confronted with the full burden of their health care costs.