Phil Gingrey: “I think my colleague did an excellent job of emphasizing something that is so important for all of us to keep in mind…”

“I think my colleague did an excellent job of emphasizing something that is so important for all of us to keep in mind, which is that this is first of all an option that seniors have. And as the gentleman from Georgia was talking about, it would do very little good, in fact, it may do some harm to try to pass a stand-alone prescription benefit even for our neediest of seniors, without bringing along with that in this Medicare modernization bill some significant changes. These are the kinds of options that this President, this leadership, is bringing to the American public and bringing to our seniors. But as the gentleman from Georgia emphasized, it is a choice. If a senior wants to stay in traditional Medicare, certainly they could do that, but they would be staying in a traditional health care delivery system which gave them no reimbursement for preventive health care and gave them no protection.”