We made a commitment to our senior citizens more than 30 years ago that we would guarantee them affordable, quality health care. We created Medicare because the private insurance market was not doing the job.

Today, we're finding that there are still elements of the private insurance market who are unwilling to care for our senior citizens. Some within the managed care industry apparently value profit margins more than patients.

I don't want to say that this is blackmail or extortion. But it sure smells funny.

The initiatives Secretary Shalala and the President are announcing and discussing today will address the short-term problem. But what's happening here raises some serious, longer-term questions. More and more people depend on HMOs, and that includes our seniors. Yet the managed care industry has stoutly resisted our attempts to pass patient rights legislation for everyone, and they are in the process of scaring vulnerable people by threatening to drop their Medicare coverage. If the managed care industry is unwilling to take care of our people, particularly in Medicare, we're going to have to look at devising new plans or shoring up the existing Medicare program. That's a job Senator Rockefeller and I will tackle with great enthusiasm as Members of the Medicare Commission.

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