Frank Pallone: “We are primarily talking about widows, elderly women whose husbands had passed on and who did not have any pension or…”

“We are primarily talking about widows, elderly women whose husbands had passed on and who did not have any pension or anything to pay their way, and were therefore eligible for this, what they called qualified Medicare beneficiaries. I only mention that again by reference to the comments that the two of you have made, which is whenever you have these Medicare cuts, there is no free lunch. Essentially what it does is drive up costs in every other way. You mentioned about the higher premiums for Medicare part B that were proposed by the Republicans in 1995. You mentioned the higher deductibles. You mentioned the higher copayments. But we also had this year, in 1996, actually as part of the budget that the Republicans passed in the spring, the idea of eliminating balanced billing. In other words, essentially, if you decided you wanted to stay in traditional Medicare, you did not want to go into an HMO or managed care, under the present Republican budget for 1996, the one that passed in 1996, you could actually be charged an unlimited amount by the physician over and above what Medicare could pay.”