Ami Bera: “I want to thank my colleague from Massachusetts for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, as a doctor who has cared for…”

“I want to thank my colleague from Massachusetts for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, as a doctor who has cared for hundreds of seniors on Medicare, this is an important step forward because, for over a decade, we have had this flawed formula that has put the security of seniors' health care access at risk. I want to applaud Dr. Burgess, and I want to applaud the bipartisan Doctors Caucus. You will hear from a lot of doctors here in Congress that this is a step forward because, when we took our oath to practice medicine, we took an oath to put our patients first. This is a good bill that puts our patients first: our seniors, folks who have worked their whole lives and who now, in retirement, need that security of being able to see their doctors. This bill repeals a flawed formula that has been patched 17 times over the years, and it replaces it with a better formula, a formula that moves us away from this fee- for-service model and that moves us toward practicing higher quality care and putting our patients first. It is not a perfect bill. Like many, I am disappointed to see the Hyde amendment included in this bill. I have always stood against the Hyde amendment and against other attempts to restrict a woman's right to make her own reproductive health decisions. The Hyde amendment is a temporary rider that expires every year; and we, along with many women across this country, look forward to the day when it will end. I came to Congress to put people first.…”