David Thomas: “I can understand why some of the gentlemen on the floor are baffled. I am quite sure they were baffled as to why we…”

“I can understand why some of the gentlemen on the floor are baffled. I am quite sure they were baffled as to why we would want to return some of the taxpayer money in the first place. That really is, I think, the fundamental argument. Let me say this: This letter simply does not meet the standards of the previous administration. I have to assure you, when you want to notify taxpayers of really important information you ought to look at the Health Care Financing Administration multicolored brochure, which, when you open the first page, had a large color picture of then Secretary of HHS Donna Shalala. Then you turn to the second page, and there was a large color photo of the gentleman who was then the Administrator of HCFA. Then you turn to the next page, and there was another photo. So, for someone trying to find out something about Medicare, they had to go through three large multicolored photos of people who were there not for political reasons. I can understand why some people are baffled, because actually people learned through the media that Congress was returning some of their tax money. The first assumption would be it is not true. The second assumption would be, if it is true, how much am I getting? The third assumption would be, where do I call to verify? One of the concerns was that, believe it or not, some people would like to verify that they are getting money.”