Judd Gregg: “Essentially, this amendment creates a marketplace, creates competition, and it gives seniors the opportunity to go into…”

“Essentially, this amendment creates a marketplace, creates competition, and it gives seniors the opportunity to go into the marketplace, be thoughtful purchasers, and the result of being thoughtful purchasers is getting an actual return, a monetary return, for being thoughtful purchasers. What the amendment does is strike the language in the bill which says that there can be no cash incentives tied to any sort of Choice plan. Now, in the original bill as it was presented by myself, the original Choice bill, the vast majority of which has been incorporated in this bill, we had a section which said that if a senior was able to purchase a plan at less dollars, then the senior would be allowed to keep 75 percent of the savings, and 25 percent of the savings would go into the part A trust fund. Under the bill as it is presently structured, the practical effect was it created more marketplace forces. It meant seniors would be more thoughtful purchasers of health care. This is important.”