Political Quotes

“The Mayo Clinic in Arizona, unfortunately, has had to announce that in several of its key facilities there, it will no longer accept new Medicare patients. Why is that so? Because the government program of Medicare, which our seniors rely on, is getting to the point where it does not pay physicians what they require just to stay in business, just to have their office practice continue. The Medicaid Program, which is the other government program, is already so low in its reimbursements to physicians that--the numbers differ, but 50 to 60 percent of physicians are no longer taking Medicaid patients. As a result, these government programs end up getting very close to rationing care because there aren't enough physicians and facilities to take care of the people who are enrolled in the programs. Imposing yet another entitlement for even more people to have this care with fees regulated by the Federal Government and reimbursements at levels too low for physicians to take advantage of will simply continue to drive physicians away from the treatment of the patients they have treated over the years and want to continue to treat. It would be our hope we could bring the incentive for physicians to continue to treat these patients, rather than the disincentives the Mayo Clinic is pointing to in backing out of the treatment of folks in Arizona.”