Tom Price: “I thank Congressman Boustany so much and appreciate your perspective and the stories that you told and the statistics…”

“I thank Congressman Boustany so much and appreciate your perspective and the stories that you told and the statistics you brought to us because it really puts a face on it. When we have the kind of divisive conversations that oftentimes occur on the floor of the House, it is not helpful, does not help patients all across this Nation. So I appreciate you bringing that perspective. You mentioned again many of the ripples that occur when these kinds of decisions are made here. What happens in terms of access to care is maybe the most important thing, but what also happens is it ripples down the line of what bright young men and women across this country choose as a profession. Are they choosing to go into medicine; are they choosing to go into some of the more difficult subspecialties that many of us will require the care from over our lifetime? And what is indeed happening is that they are not choosing those things. They are not choosing to go into medicine in the numbers that they have in the past. So the ripple effect is huge. All of it boils down to a decreasing access to care that patients have across this Nation and a decreasing access to quality care across this Nation. I am so humbled by the participation of many of our physician colleagues in this hour on the floor of the House today.”