Christopher Shays: “To illustrate, we did not increase the copayment to the seniors or the deductible and we kept the premium the same, but…”

“To illustrate, we did not increase the copayment to the seniors or the deductible and we kept the premium the same, but what we allowed them is the opportunity to have what you and I have as Federal employees, we get choice in health care. We are going to allow seniors to choose different health care plans. Because of your instance and a wise one, we allowed seniors to go back, it they did not like that private plan, and just go back to the traditional fee-for-service Medicare system that we have had since 1960. So we left the existing plan in place, but we gave choices. To me, the choice was the most exciting part. In part of our plan we said if a senior discovered something that was a waste in the program, we would allow them to receive some of the benefit if they reported it. It is even in our health bill that Senator Kennedy is holding up right now by not allowing for a conference committee between the House and the Senate.”