Opening Statement of the Hon. Jim Ramstad, a Representative in Congress from the State of Minnesota
Hearing on the Strengthening Medicare: Modernizing Beneficiary Cost Sharing
May 9, 2001
Madam Chairwoman, thank you for calling this important hearing today to continue exploring Medicare reform.
I strongly believe that Medicare needs comprehensive reform. We cannot focus on tinkering around the edges, and we must not take the easy road of simply adding a prescription drug benefit to an already overburdened program.
I am particularly concerned about the costs that Medicare beneficiaries must pay when they get sick and the plans they must purchase to cover their needs because of Medicare’s copays and lack of catastrophic coverage.
For example, the program has a $792 deductible for Part A when the patient is least sensitive to price; after 60 days in the hospital, a beneficiary must pay $198 coinsurance per day for days 61 through 90. In Part B, a beneficiary must pay a $100 which has never been adjusted for inflation
This problem is exacerbated by the fact that Medicare lacks catastrophic protection. This compares with 97% of private health policies which have this protection.
In total, Medicare's limited benefits package, high copays and complete absence of catastrophic coverage means that nearly half of our seniors' health care costs are not covered by Medicare.
This means that Medicare seniors must bear the cost themselves. In fact, 90% of beneficiaries have some type of supplemental coverage which ranges from quite good to very limited.
In my view, Madam Chairwomen, this is just another example of why we must bring the Medicare program into the 21st century, and do it this year. I believe that together, in a bipartisan way, we can design an effective and efficient way to comprehensively improve the system and preserve it for tomorrow’s seniors.
Madam Chairwoman, thanks again for your leadership. I look forward to learning more from today’s witnesses on how we can best address this critical issue.