Christopher Shays: “The reason why the managed care plans could save money is there is so much waste and fraud and abuse in government…”

“The reason why the managed care plans could save money is there is so much waste and fraud and abuse in government oversight of health care that the managed care plans could oversee it better and they would still have made money, they would have saved money, through all the waste that exists. Yet they would have been able to give more than the senior would have now. We also allowed for medical savings accounts. We did not require people to participate. But if someone wanted to put money, the government would have actually given a senior a certain payment, $2,000 or $3,000 a year, we would have given the senior that money, they could have put it in the account. If they spent less than $3,000, they would have actually saved money. If they spent more, they would have had to pay for it on their own.”