Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a very pressing issue that not only have we heard about throughout our country but especially in the 19th Congressional District of California, which I represent. It is the decreasing amount of reimbursement rates to Medicare providers. It is an issue, unfortunately, that threatens the care for many senior citizens that I represent. Now, as the proud Representative of California-19, it is a place where the cost of living, unfortunately, can be pretty high--not just for families, not just for workers, but for doctors, as well. We in the 19th are already facing challenges when it comes to keeping enough medical providers around to care for our seniors. It is actually a problem throughout California where not only is the cost of living too high, but also Medicare reimbursements are way too low. Mr. Speaker, 76 percent of California physicians report that Medicare no longer covers their cost to provide care. That puts more than 6.5 million Californians enrolled in Medicare at risk as many primary care doctors are not even taking new part B patients. A key driver of this is how Medicare isn't reimbursing physicians enough. This past year, Medicare expenses rose 4.6 percent. In the past two decades, payments to providers have declined 26 percent while costs to providers have risen 47 percent, according to the AMA.…”