Greg Ganske: “One of the things that is currently happening in the Medicare Program is a trend toward increased utilization or…”

“One of the things that is currently happening in the Medicare Program is a trend toward increased utilization or increased opportunity for health maintenance organizations. This is happening. It is going to continue to happen, whether there is any change in the Medicare Program at all. But as the gentleman knows, we were aware of this, and we put in some significantly stronger patient and consumer protections in this bill in terms of notification, in terms of making sure that senior citizens cannot be taken advantage of by certain health plans. I mean, there are a lot of good things in this bill, not the least of which has been discussed earlier this evening by the Members of the opposition party, related to medical savings accounts. This is one of those options that a senior citizen can use if he wants to. It is not for everybody. But it is something that is reasonable for people to think about. The way that it works is this: You receive a set amount of funds from which voucher you can then purchase a high deductible insurance plan. With the difference between what the plan costs, you can then put that amount into a savings account to pay the deductible. However, what you do not use stays and grows in that account, which is your account. And if you maintain a certain balance, then you can use that for additional medical provisions, if you want to.”