Frank Lautenberg: “Mr. President, the reconciliation bill establishes a new program known as Medicare Choice, which will give Medicare…”

“Mr. President, the reconciliation bill establishes a new program known as Medicare Choice, which will give Medicare beneficiaries more options for the type of health care that they will receive in the program. Seniors will be able to choose from HMO's, PPO's, and medical savings accounts, among several other options. The committee's proposal is intended to increase Choice for seniors. At the same time, it is meant to avoid the risk that the Medicare Program would move toward a two-tiered or multitiered system in which some seniors, especially the healthier and wealthier, enjoy benefits not available to the others. Under the committee-reported bill, providers of different services are paid a set amount. They then can compete for the consumers based on the quality and types of benefits they provide. If, for example, one HMO can operate more efficiently, it can plow the resulting savings into providing services that other less-efficient HMO's could not. This type of system is intended to ensure that seniors get the best quality care for each Federal dollar that gets spent. I think that makes sense.”