Doug Bereuter: “this Member will vote for H.R. 4954, the Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug Act of 2002. There are elements in…”

“this Member will vote for H.R. 4954, the Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug Act of 2002. There are elements in this Medicare reform legislation which improve the access of health care services in rural areas. For example, not only does this legislation continue an effort to address some of this Member's concerns regarding the significant difference in reimbursement levels for urban and rural health care providers, it would also provide a 3-year fix for the Medicare physician payment formula, resulting in a 6 percent increase in Medicare payments over the next 3 years rather than the 14.2 percent projected cut under current law. For some time now, this Member has been aggressively pursuing an issue related to the formula used in the Medicare program to reimburse physicians and other health care providers for beneficiaries' medical care. The problem is that it does not accurately measure the cost of providing such services. The program reimburses physicians and other health care providers in a manner that favors urban providers in a manner that favors urban providers over rural providers. Instead, Medicare payment formulas should more accurately compensate physicians and providers who deliver high-quality, cost-effective services to Medicare beneficiaries in all areas of the country.”