Martin Hoke: “The truth is that every reasonable person in this body, every responsible person who has examined the situation, every…”

“The truth is that every reasonable person in this body, every responsible person who has examined the situation, every responsible person in the administration, every person who is looking at it in a dispassionate and temperate way, not for political gain, not for political purposes but for the purposes of preserving, protecting and improving Medicare not just for this generation but also for the next generation, has concluded without question that we have to fix the problem. We believe that we cannot only fix the problem, that is the impending problem of bankruptcy, but we can offer so much more to senior citizens in terms of what will be available for them under choices that they ought to have as senior citizens that are available to other people in the country as well. Let us look at, first of all, the managed care option, because I think it is an interesting and a good option. The truth is there will be a lot of senior citizens who will be interested in it because it is going to offer them more care for less money.”