Frank Pallone: “I really cannot emphasize enough, and I know that he obviously believes the same, that what we really need here is a…”

“I really cannot emphasize enough, and I know that he obviously believes the same, that what we really need here is a bill that is going to pass. It is going to pass this House; it is going to pass the other body; it is going to be signed by the President. I really do not think that is going to be possible unless there is a basic understanding that this has to be a Medicare benefit, and I think that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, maybe those who really would like to get something passed, have tried to frame this in terms of what is a more generous benefit. Clearly, the Democratic benefit is much more generous. As our colleague from Texas pointed out, we are talking about a very low deductible, $100, as opposed to $250 for the Republican. We are talking about a lower premium. We are talking about an 80 percent benefit that starts from the first $100 after the deductible and goes up to $2,000 when it is 100 percent. The Republicans are talking about 80 percent for the first $1,000, then 50 percent for the next $1,000, and then I think it goes down to zero, sort of like a donut hole where a person gets no Federal money up to $4,000.”