On the recordMarch 19, 2012
I think this rationing is such an important situation. We are already seeing rationing right now. As an optometrist more than being a Senator, I get calls all the time from people who have moved into town and they can't find a health care provider for their aunt or uncle who is in the Medicare age group. Physicians are definitely cutting back because of the payment plan. Seniors are smart enough to figure out that you can't add 30 percent more patients under this plan, and along with that, there is no increase in physician fees, no increase in the infrastructure required to take care of them. Something has to give, and that is going to be two things: quality of care and rationing. The same thing is true of Medicaid. In Arkansas, we are going to have to increase our Medicaid rolls by 250,000 people. Our State only has 3 million people to begin with. Again, something has to give. How do you pay for that? The reality is that will cost us in the neighborhood of $400 million. Where will that come from? It will come from providers. It will come from decreased funding for education, roads, and things like that. Again, you can't do this without rationing and consolidation.
