Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman so much for holding this Special Order session, which is so important. One thing, the comments by my distinguished colleagues have been perceptive and enlightening and moving. There is one aspect I might be able to add, although they have said so much. I would like to invite our seniors and those who love them and who may accompany them in the course of their care, as I have had the privilege of doing for my own parents, both of whom have relied on Medicare for many years, to talk with their doctors about what it means when Medicare changes the way it deals with the doctors' practices and what it will mean for our seniors in their having the ability to be cared for by the doctors they prefer and in the places where they are comfortable and that are familiar and that they like and trust as well as what may happen if Medicare loses the funds that now exist in the trust fund, which are running out very, very rapidly. I think it's important for patients and doctors throughout the United States to have that conversation and for our doctors to hear their patients' perspectives and for patients to hear from their doctors how tough it may be for a lot of doctors' practices to keep their doors open if Medicare loses the funds that it needs and if that's accelerated through the Affordable Care Act, which does, as we've mentioned many times but is so important to say, take an enormous piece of crucial funding away from Medicare. We can't afford that.…”