Ami Bera: “I want to first thank my colleague from the great State of Washington, Ms. DelBene, as well as my good friend from…”

“I want to first thank my colleague from the great State of Washington, Ms. DelBene, as well as my good friend from Pennsylvania, Mr. Kelly, as well as my fellow doctor, Dr. Bucshon. This was how legislative processes should work. You identify a challenge, you work on it, you work on it in a bipartisan way. But you put the American patient first because that is what this it about at the end of the day. How do we give efficient, quality care to America's patients, and, in this case, America's seniors. I have been practicing medicine going back to 1995. And yeah, I have used a fax machine back in 1995. This is about coming into the 21st century, modernizing the practice of medicine. It is also about letting us do what we went to medical school for, what we did residency for. After 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of medical school, anywhere from 3 to 7 years and longer of residency training, doctors want to be doctors. They want to take care of their patients. Yes, there is a role for prior authorization in limited cases. There is also a role to go back and retrospectively look at how care is being delivered. But what is happening today is a travesty. It wasn't the intention of prior authorization. It is a prior authorization process gone awry. And let me give you some examples.…”