William Tauzin: “I thank the gentleman, and you made two excellent points again. One is that among the various plans that we give the…”

“I thank the gentleman, and you made two excellent points again. One is that among the various plans that we give the seniors an option to choose are the Medisave accounts. Medisave accounts are being used now. NBC showed a film the other night on New Jersey's plans in many corporate businesses where, instead of belonging to the Medicare system as you know it, you can choose instead to have the money deposited in a Medisave account. A catastrophic policy is purchased, the balance is kept in the account. If you do not use it, the money then becomes yours at the end of the year. If you use it, your high option coverage then kicks in to protect you. Those Medisave accounts do, in fact, allow people in the marketplace another option and, in fact, ought to be made available to seniors who want to perhaps use them, too. It does ensure accountability. When it is your money, you will spend it a lot more carefully. So it is one of the options that seniors will have. You do not have to choose it, but it is one of the options and is working quite well in many business settings in America for employees registered under health care programs with their companies.”