Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act Of 2009

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I wish to spend a few minutes this morning talking about Medicare Advantage and particularly to highlight the fact that I think it is important to support the language put together by the chairman of the Finance Committee on Medicare Advantage and to reject the amendment offered by our friend from Utah, Senator Hatch.

I wish to begin my comments with respect to Medicare Advantage by pointing out that it is clear that not all Medicare Advantage is created equal. Some of Medicare Advantage is a model of efficiency, and some of it is pretty much a rip-off of both taxpayers and seniors. I would refer, as it relates to the abusive plans, to the very important hearings chaired by Senator Baucus in the Finance Committee. I recall on one occasion sitting next to our friend from Arkansas, Senator Lincoln. We had witnesses describe how Medicare Advantage was being sold door-to-door in her part of the country by individuals dressed up in scrubs as physicians and health care providers. In the discussion of how to handle it, we looked at various kinds of reforms to rein in abusive practices. I came to the conclusion that when you do something such as that, the CEOs ought to be put in jail. That is what is documented on the record as it relates to the hearings held in the Senate Finance Committee and why I come to the floor to make it clear that I think it is important to distinguish between the good-quality Medicare Advantage plans and those that have been living high on the hog through some of the overpayments we have documented on this floor.

My State has the highest percentage of older people in Medicare Advantage in the country. I had an opportunity to work closely with Chairman Baucus in terms of addressing Medicare Advantage, and I think that with the chairman's leadership, it has been possible to show you can find savings in the Medicare Program without harming older people, without reducing their guaranteed benefits, their essential benefits, as we have learned, with Medicare Advantage. The way Chairman Baucus goes about doing that is by forcing the inefficient Medicare Advantage plans to follow the model of the efficient ones. The way we have been able to do that is essentially through a two-part strategy: first, encourage competitive bidding and, second, provide incentives for quality, which is done through the bonus payment provisions that are in the legislation.

First, on competitive bidding, you have plan bids, and you use the plan bids to set Medicare Advantage benchmarks which would encourage the plans to compete more directly on the basis of price and quality rather than on the level of extra benefits offered to those who are enrolling. With the competitive bidding, plans compete to be the most efficient and hold down costs. I commend Chairman Baucus for making this a central part of the way Medicare Advantage would be handled. Certainly our part of the country has shown this as a path to get more value for the Medicare Advantage dollar in the days ahead.

In addition, in the Finance Committee I offered an amendment with several colleagues that would boost the payments to those plans that, according to the government--and the government uses a system of stars, in effect, to reward quality--our amendment would boost the payments to those Medicare Advantage plans with four- and five-star quality ratings.

So, in effect, with our legislation there are both carrots and sticks. Competitive bidding plus bonus payments offers both, so the plans compete to provide the best value for seniors. By encouraging the plans to be more efficient, it is possible to achieve significant savings for older people, help shore up the solvency of the Medicare trust fund, and meet the cost-saving goals of the legislation.

One point that has been discussed by colleagues on the floor of the Senate is this matter of individuals being able to keep what they have. I have heard that is not the case with Medicare Advantage plans; that somehow, under the legislation that has been offered by the Finance Committee, older people would not be able to keep what they have, according to some on the floor. That is simply inaccurate. Seniors who have Medicare Advantage plans under the Baucus legislation will be able to keep those plans. They will be able to stay with what they have, keep their guaranteed, essential benefits, and through the language that has been authored now in the legislation before us, there will be lower costs for taxpayers.

Last point. I have heard a lot of talk about grandma on the floor of the Senate. I spent the bulk of my professional life in effect working with grandma. I was the cofounder of the Oregon Gray Panthers and ran the legal aid program for older people in our home State for a number of years. I want it understood that I think with the Baucus legislation on Medicare Advantage, that proves it is possible to make savings in the Medicare Program without cutting essential benefits. Using commonsense principles of competitive bidding, No. 1, and incentives for quality, I think grandma is going to be just fine under our language for Medicare Advantage.

Mr. President, with that, I yield the floor.

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