David Minge: “Average annual per capita cost. And one thing I know that the gentleman and I have discussed several times is that over…”

“Average annual per capita cost. And one thing I know that the gentleman and I have discussed several times is that over the years this discrepancy between what we experienced certainly in some of the rural areas in the State of Washington and what was experienced in other areas of this country became quite unfair. I understand that in some areas of this country the managed care programs that seniors enrolled in would cover prescription drugs, eyeglasses, hearing aids, even the cost of transportation to the doctors' office. In our areas, we did not have that. I am wondering, did the Breaux-Thomas Commission really look at this fundamental inequity that we have tried to end in the Medicare program, and did they have a way to end it? If they did not, is that not something that really the Commission should have undertaken? Mr. McDERMOTT. As we see, I say to the gentleman from Minnesota, this is exactly the point. They did not have any reason to look at it. They did not care. They said, we are going to give a defined contribution. We are going to give the same amount of money to everybody in the country. If they can buy a lot of things in one place with it, they can get prescription drugs and eyeglasses, that is fine. Wonderful. If over here they cannot, well, that is the luck. If someone happens to live in a poor county, we do not care. That is what is wrong with the defined contribution. That is why we have to stay with a defined benefit.”