On the recordJune 25, 2003
Take a look at this letter. It is very clear that the reason these plans left was that we set the growth rate for Medicare HMOs at one-fifth the growth rate of the traditional Medicare Program, and obviously they couldn't continue because health care costs continued to go up. Remember, they were the only ones providing prescription drugs. So while Medicare was going up 10 percent without prescription drugs, HMOs were going up probably 10 percent or more because they were offering prescription drugs. So they said: We just can't continue, under this artificial ceiling, to continue. What we are trying to do with this plan is to put that choice back to seniors.
Source
govinfo.gov
