Charles Norwood: “When we do not pay enough to let people make a living, then we may be assured access will be affected, and so will…”

“When we do not pay enough to let people make a living, then we may be assured access will be affected, and so will quality of care. Those are the three things that the Department of Defense says it is interested in. I hope that they have not gone out and accepted a bid just based on who is cheapest. There is more to it than that. They say so, too. They say access of care is very important, and they say quality of care is very important, but they want it for less money, and the problem in this particular area is they want it for so much less people cannot make a living, so nobody will join the program. Therefore, there are no providers. Mr. Speaker, I want to remind the gentleman from North Carolina, we are talking about a $1.7 billion, with a B, billion, contract to provide dental care to military families. With this contract in billions of taxpayers' dollars, Concordia, which is a small, regional, managed care company, is going to transform itself into a major national player in the emerging dental care managed care industry. The potential for rapid corporate growth and huge future profits for Concordia is staggering. The question remains: What will the American taxpayer and our military beneficiaries receive in exchange for a very lucrative contract?”