Political Quotes

“The gentlewoman from Texas has identified a very important issue, one that was brought to my attention in sharp relief by my own hospital association just yesterday. In Florida, we are now the third-largest State in the Union, and the hospitals in my home State are owed at least $134 million in payments that have not been paid by the VA. I mean, I don't care how big your operation is, that is a tremendous amount of money, and prompt payment is a critical issue because we need to make sure that the resources that are appropriated to our healthcare system and the revenue that we need generated to contribute to our economy and the care that we need provided is done so promptly. What we don't want to have happen is healthcare providers deciding not to provide services outside the VA to VA patients. And my discussion with them yesterday was that there are healthcare providers in our State that are starting to decide not to take VA patients anymore, and that would be a travesty. The gentlewoman is absolutely correct. Waiting 2 or 3 years for payment--that is the kind of length of time we are talking about here-- can have a devastating impact, particularly on small business. It is not a new issue at the VA. For example, former Secretary David Shulkin started rapid response teams whose goal was to settle the most substantial outstanding bills as quickly as possible. Mr.…”