Lincoln Chafee: “I would like to briefly review the bidding here, if I might. Part B is a program that provides for payments to…”

“I would like to briefly review the bidding here, if I might. Part B is a program that provides for payments to physicians; it is an insurance program. Nobody who is in Medicare has to take out this insurance program. Those that do pay a $45-per-month premium currently, over 99 percent of all Social Security beneficiaries, take the part B insurance. That is what it is-- insurance. What is this premium that they pay the $45? That is calculated to cover 25 percent of the costs of the program, of the entire part B cost. Twenty-five percent is what an individual pays. So where is the other 75 percent coming from? The other 75 percent comes from the General Treasury. So you get this anomalous situation of a very low-income individual that might be the person that cleans the streets, if you will, or cleans up our offices early in the morning; that individual's income taxes go into the General Treasury, and then part of them come out to pay some millionaire retiree's doctor bills-- 75 percent of them. Now, something is wrong here. Why should those people be paying 75 percent of Warren Buffet's doctor bills? So what we have proposed here is that there be what we call a means test. The wealthier individuals will pay more for that premium instead of having it come out of the General Treasury. So did we start with low-income people? Hardly.…”