Paul Tonko: “I believe it's $157 billion, right. It's a benefit that ought to be shared on behalf of our Nation's seniors. To the…”

“I believe it's $157 billion, right. It's a benefit that ought to be shared on behalf of our Nation's seniors. To the points made earlier in this discussion as to the efforts for prevention, for screenings, that do not require co-payments or deductibles--the annual checkups--these are all elements that were introduced and imbedded into our reform package to contain costs, to bend that cost curve. The real concern that so many have raised from the Democratic membership in this House is that we're not providing the sorts of savings for our seniors, that we're not bending that cost curve. When you send them out to shop and don't even give them adequate coverage-- 32 cents--and then the indexing into the future is not keeping pace with the projected inflation of health care costs, we're putting them at risk. We're targeting them for defeat. They're saying, Well, you're going to have 13 or 15 plans from which to choose as you shop in the open market.--That isn't bending the cost curve. So the economic consequences here are, first and foremost, the hardship that seniors will have to embrace, that they'll have to endure. Then also, when we look back at 1966 and 1965, the available cash--the economic vitality of a senior household--was drained. It went south because medical costs were usurping their retirement funds. {time} 2110 Think of it.…”