Tom Harkin: “what we have is a very unfair system on reimbursement for beneficiaries. Here is a chart that shows the national average…”

“what we have is a very unfair system on reimbursement for beneficiaries. Here is a chart that shows the national average is about $5,490 per beneficiary in reimbursement. There are 34 States below that. My State of Iowa is $3,000 per beneficiary per year; New Mexico, $3,700. You can see all these States down here; we pay the same taxes, we pay the same Medicare taxes as every other State, yet Iowa receives $4,300 per beneficiary less than the top State in the Nation. All this amendment does is it provides $25 billion over 10 years to the Finance Committee to bring up these States. It does not take from the States at the top; it only adds to the States at the bottom, and even some of the States at the top will be helped because it helps the rural-urban inequity. So some of the States at the top that have rural areas will actually benefit, but this brings up the bottom States.”