Frank Pallone: “The other thing that I was thinking about when the gentleman was talking about this extra out-of-pocket expense is the…”

“The other thing that I was thinking about when the gentleman was talking about this extra out-of-pocket expense is the fact that the majority of seniors now are covered by medigap. So they are already buying a supplemental insurance policy, in many cases called medigap, that covers services and out-of-pocket expenses in some cases as well. I know that I saw an article in the New York Times just a few weeks ago that talked about how costs for Medigap supplemental insurance were going up in our States, the New York metropolitan area, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, something like 14 percent over the next year. So when one thinks about all these extra out-of-pocket costs for the seniors that would result, I would assume also that those Medigap premiums would soar as well, because as fewer services were covered, we would see even a higher cost for Medigap. How far can these people go? How far can the seniors go?”