David Thomas: “as we hear more and more about this bill, of course, it causes us to reflect on it and that is the purpose of having…”

“as we hear more and more about this bill, of course, it causes us to reflect on it and that is the purpose of having conversation, that is the purpose of having debate. There will be much more of that, of course, but it is interesting to listen to what is being discussed, much of it based on the fact we need more money for this and more money for that, when we are adding to Medicare $400 billion, continuing to support the basic Medicare Program as it is financially, and adding to it this additional amount. Medicare will be improved in every way as this happens. So I know it is a logical time to talk about how we might do more, how we might provide a Government program, as the Senator from New York talked about this morning, for everyone; take all the payments out, and that is a point of view. I think, however, the concept of this business of Medicare is one in which we all pay into it, we pay something for it. Obviously, one of the principles of health care is for the recipient to pay something. We have found when they do not, it is out of control entirely. We have a lot of worrisome times about Medicaid where there is no initial payment and we have overutilization. These are all part of the elements that go into it. I know it is great to talk about giving everything to everyone, but the fact is, that is not what is going to happen. We have to get a balanced program that does what we really want to do. We talk about the gaps and helping people.…”