Political Quotes

“Mr. President, Medicare's payment system for physicians is flawed in many ways. One of those flaws has for many years given unfairly low payments to high quality areas like my own home state of Iowa and many other rural States. The new health care reform law makes some much-needed changes in that regard. The legislation I am introducing today makes additional improvements in addressing unfair geographic disparities in payment. It is intended to provide more equitable rural health payments and improve rural access to care for all rural states. As many of you know, Medicare payment varies from one area to another based on the geographic adjustments known as the Geographic Practice Cost Indices or GPCIs. These geographic adjustments are intended to equalize physician payment by reflecting differences in physician's practice costs. But they do not accurately represent those costs in Iowa or other rural states. They have been a dismal failure in fact. They discourage physicians from practicing in rural areas like New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri, and Iowa because they create such unfairly low Medicare rates. I introduced legislation in the last Congress, and again last year, to correct these unwarranted payment disparities. Last fall, I offered an amendment in the Senate Finance Committee mark up of health reform legislation to reform the inequitable formula that has caused these unduly low payments.…”