On the recordSeptember 20, 2016
I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, more than 80 percent of the approximately 640,000 Americans living with kidney failure, or end-stage renal disease, are covered under Medicare. Unfortunately, those individuals who receive Medicare coverage as a result of their ESRD do not have access to managed care plans under the Medicare Advantage program. This bill would make a commonsense change and enable Medicare beneficiaries with ESRD to have the same choices as all other Medicare beneficiaries. H.R. 5659 would help make sure ESRD beneficiaries in Medicare have access to the coordinated services, flexibility, and integrated care they need to fit their own individual needs. I want to thank my fellow colleague on the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), for his dedication and his hard work over the past years on this important bipartisan legislation. I look forward to it advancing swiftly to the President's desk to be signed into law. I yield back the balance of my time.
