David Minge: “I am impressed with the gentleman's knowledge of geography. Actually, the community of Windom, Minnesota, is both in my…”

“I am impressed with the gentleman's knowledge of geography. Actually, the community of Windom, Minnesota, is both in my district and where I have had a district office for over 6 years, and it is one of these communities that has an excellent hospital, it has doctors who are well-trained and provide first-class health care service, but at the same time the seniors in a community like that are unable, due to the current inequities in the system, of having the same level of benefits that seniors have let's say in Arizona. One reason that this has been particularly harsh and difficult for many of us to accept or to understand is that if our more affluent senior citizens have the wherewithal to go to Florida or Arizona for the winter, they can become members of a managed care program and have all of these benefits that their less prosperous brethren who have to stay in Minnesota for that cold winter are not able to obtain. So there is just a real disconnect when we think of trying to reform a health care system and somehow not being sensitive to the inequities of that type. I really commend my colleague, the gentleman from Washington, for his work on the Commission.…”