On the recordMarch 19, 2013
I just want to respond to a few of the comments from the chairman with respect to Medicare and health care costs. As we indicated earlier, we've seen a dramatic slowing in the per capita interest in health care cost. That's a good thing. That's, in part, we believe, a result of changes in the Affordable Care Act and, as a result of that, the so-called Independent Advisory Board that our colleagues misleadingly refer to as a bunch of bureaucrats won't even have any job to do for at least 10 years, probably longer. Now, if health care costs per capita start rising more quickly, then their task--and this is a group of health experts and others--their task is to propose a way to reduce those health care costs, and they're specifically instructed not to have a negative impact on beneficiaries. And by the way, it specifically says, if Congress has a better way to do it, go for it. That's what the law says. We think that that's a better approach than handing everything over to insurance companies. And the Republican plan to give seniors a voucher, premium support--I don't care what you call it, it's bad news because seniors will be getting this thing, but the value of that thing doesn't keep up with the rising health care costs. Now, the chairman mentioned prescription drug part D. It came in under projected cost. One reason was you had more generic drugs on the entire market, not just the Medicare market.…
