Political Quotes

“I must say I am absolutely astounded by the comments of the gentleman from California [Mr. Thomas] a minute or two ago on the House floor. He seems to ignore the whole history of this proposal and then mischaracterizes what is at issue today. The Medicare Program pays for the beneficiaries to go to the doctors and the hospitals of their choice and pays most of those costs, but there are costs that have to be incurred by the elderly. For that people go out and buy MediGap supplemental insurance policies. There are a lot of anticonsumer practices in the sale of these policies, so in 1990 the Congress said the insurance commissioner should set up a uniform benefit package for MediGap so people can compare one policy to another. People were being sold MediGap policies to cover things that were already covered under Medicare. They were paying for coverage that they already had. The consumers were being ripped off.”