Political Quotes

“I now would like to shift gears, Mr. Speaker, and speak about an issue that, frankly, John Dingell would be very concerned about as well, and that has to do with Medicaid primary care pay bump. At the end of this year there will be up to 7 million more women who are eligible for Medicaid through the Medicaid expansion program who will not be able to get health care because they can't find a doctor. {time} 1815 Medicaid pays less than Medicare and private insurance for primary care. That is not surprising. In 2012, the average Medicaid rates were only 59 percent of Medicare rates for primary care services. Now, you may be scratching your head and saying: Well, why would we somehow cheat the poor out of health care? That is precisely what we are doing. By reducing the amount of money available to physicians who provide care to the poor in this country, we are basically saying: ``Find it if you can.'' In my home State of California, the Medi-Cal reimbursement rates are on average only 43 percent of Medicare rates for primary care services. This map shows what the situation is. The very light color are those States which were at 33 to 57 percent, the medium blue is at 59 to 82, and the dark blue is at 85 to 98 percent of Medicare rates. As you see, most States are in that 59 to 82 percent range, but many large States, like California and Florida, are between 33 and 57 percent.…”