On the recordMarch 9, 2010
I appreciate my colleague asking. There are 330,000 seniors in the State of Arizona who rely on Medicare Advantage. It is exactly as Dr. Barrasso said: Medicare Advantage is a program that helps people with preventive care, with coordinated care, and with some of the things that aren't available under regular care, including vision care, audio care, and the like. These benefits would be drastically cut under the proposal in this legislation, so they are naturally very much opposed to it. I think Arizona represents the second largest State in terms of the number of seniors participating in Medicare Advantage. The other part of this that concerns them is the fact that if it is such a good idea to eliminate this program--or to drastically curtail it, to be perfectly accurate--then why is it that in one State the Senator was able to get his senior citizens who have Medicare Advantage programs exempted from the bill? If it is such a wonderful idea, why shouldn't it apply to everybody? But the seniors in Florida would be grandfathered in their Medicare Advantage plans because, of course, they don't like these cuts any more than seniors in Arizona or Wyoming or any other State.
