Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to replace the SGR permanently, but I also want to do it correctly. This bill has two payment models in the future. The first 4 years would give physicians a half-percent increase. In future years, though, CMS would be empowered to issue qualitative, subjective rules purporting to evaluate physician performance and patient outcomes. My amendment would simply extend the half-percent increase indefinitely. I think there are many reasons to vote for this amendment. CMS has not effectively used a blunt bureaucratic tool, such as SGR, so we shouldn't give them a nuance tool; second, CMS itself predicts we are going to have future doc fixes, which is going to undermine the stability doctors and patients need; third, the complexity of the outyear model is going to further drive consolidation, especially for rural and independent doctors; and, finally, CBO estimates this bill saves $10 billion. I urge a ``yes'' vote. Let us have a permanent doc fix that works for all doctors and patients. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.”