On the recordJune 19, 2003
The problem with the Medicare system, which has not changed very much, is those new advances and what we learned cannot be rapidly incorporated into Medicare. I talked earlier about heart disease. Most people know cholesterol is important to heart disease. The cholesterol screening test is not covered by traditional Medicare today. Before seniors could benefit from heart transplants, the private sector was doing heart transplants. It took 6 years before seniors had access to that lifesaving operation. The micromanagement out of Washington, DC, means new technology is slow to come into the system because it is so rigid. If we are going to capture the great advances, we need a system that is receptive, that is flexible. That is what the PPO model does. The demographic shift is critical. Whatever we do on this floor, we have to look 10 years out, 20 years out, 30 years out because of the demographic shift.
Source
govinfo.gov
