Chris Dodd: “This amendment would allow Medicare beneficiaries the freedom to move between plans for the first 2 years that this…”

“This amendment would allow Medicare beneficiaries the freedom to move between plans for the first 2 years that this benefit is in effect, from 2006 to 2007. Under the present bill, you have to make a decision immediately and then you are locked into that decision for a year. Then you would have an open enrollment period for a month after that, and then you would be locked in for another year. What we are offering with this amendment is initially seniors be given a 2-year window in order to decide which plan works best for them. Then you would go to the 1 year with the 1-month open enrollment. But, initially, given the tremendous amount of potential confusion about which of these various alternatives would work best for people, they ought to be given a bit more time than to have to make an almost instantaneous decision about which of these plans is best suited for them. One of the hallmarks that has been used to describe this bill is it is to give people choice--flexibility and choice. All we are suggesting is an additional 2 years, if you will, not requiring an immediate decision but a 2-year window in order to make that choice so people are more well informed.”