Pete Stark: “I would like first to congratulate the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut, the sponsor of H.R. 483. While I may…”

“I would like first to congratulate the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut, the sponsor of H.R. 483. While I may agree with what is in the bill, it is the absence of a few things with which she and I would differ. But she gets my highest admiration for tenacity. She has done an excellent job in bringing this bill to the floor promptly. I do believe that there is a need for strong beneficiary protections. These may be prophylactic. They may be only a safety net, but we have had anecdotal evidence of abuses. And this program is new, and the administration had hoped that we would only extend it for 18 months. Many of us feel that Federal standards, which would be enforced or reinforced by States, would be in order. The few States that choose not, like my own State of California, to regulate this through the insurance code, might be required to. Had we had the opportunity, and we will have a partial opportunity in the substitute to be offered by the distinguished gentleman from California later in the proceedings, I would have suggested that we perhaps extend this for 5 years; also, that we have Federal oversight of Medicare select.”