David Thomas: “I want to begin a discussion of the repeal of this data bank with an underscoring of a point that the gentleman from…”

“I want to begin a discussion of the repeal of this data bank with an underscoring of a point that the gentleman from California made, and that is that this measure was insisted upon by the Senate. This is not a work product that originated in the House. It was contained in the budget legislation that was passed in 1993 under the majority. I want to go back to a quote, Mr. Speaker, that I used at the beginning to frame the debate about the repeal of this proposed data bank. This data bank was never put into effect. It was proposed. We are now proposing to make sure it never goes into effect. In testimony before the Committee on Ways and Means by Sarah Jagger on February 23, 1995, representing a GAO study, she said that this proposed data bank would create an avalanche of unnecessary paperwork for both the Health Care Financing Administration and employers, and will likely achieve little or no savings while costing millions. That statement was made in February of 1995. The reason we have this legislation before us today is because the need to save not only employers, but the Health Care Financing Agency, money is even more critical today than it was at the time that we took the testimony, because when we took that testimony in February of 1995, we had a trustees' report, those individuals who are charged with the responsibility of overseeing the Medicare trust fund reporting to us that the Medicare trust fund was sound through the year 2002.”