Jim McDermott: “And that same thing, then, could be happening with our bail-out money to banks.”

I intend to carefully scrutinize ideas that may not be in the best interests of the program or the beneficiaries.

This committee has the potential of doing more good for the American people than perhaps any other single subcommittee in the Congress.

It has been a pleasure serving on this committee.

Now, the reason I raise this issue is that we all know that about 70 percent of healthcare costs occur in the last 6 months of life.