Nancy L. Johnson: “Mr. Speaker, I rise because we have gotten things done. We passed a budget resolution. The Senate did not act. We passed…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise because we have gotten things done. We passed a budget resolution. The Senate did not act. We passed a number of budget bills. The Senate did not act. We passed a prescription drug bill, the biggest expansion of Medicare in its history; the Senate did not act. We provided prescription drugs for 44 percent of our seniors, essentially free, only a $2 copayment for generics and up to $5 for prescriptions; the Senate did not act. We passed a payer package, because if we do not fix the problems of how Medicare pays physicians, we will see physicians dropping out of the program. They are facing the most startling and incredible increase in malpractice costs that we have ever seen in a single year. And the current law is going to cut their reimbursements by 5 percent, when they got cut last year 5 percent last year. The House has acted. We passed a package that changes the law so that our physicians will not be forced out of Medicare. And we are already seeing the effects of our failure to act at home.”