Frank Pallone: “One of the things we found in this bill is that only a set amount of money would be directed to pay for the HMO or the…”

“One of the things we found in this bill is that only a set amount of money would be directed to pay for the HMO or the managed care plan and that seniors, if they wanted a better plan or if they felt that HMO did not provide adequate coverage, would, in fact, be asked or could, in fact, be asked by the HMO or managed care system to pay more out of pocket. That is the reality. That is what we have before us when we look at this, when we look at this GOP Medicare plan that is before the Committee on Commerce. It is essentially a voucher system. But worse than that is that there is a proposal, if enough savings are not achieved, in other words, if enough seniors do not opt to go into a managed care HMO system, then cuts would automatically occur a few years down the line. But the cuts, again, would be not to those people who go into the HMO or to the managed care system but rather for those seniors who opt to stay in a traditional fee-for-service system where they choose their own doctor or own hospital.”