Greg Ganske: “this is a $350 billion bill. Since when has $350 billion been pencil dust, I ask my colleagues. That is a third of a…”

“this is a $350 billion bill. Since when has $350 billion been pencil dust, I ask my colleagues. That is a third of a trillion dollars. Mr. Speaker, 37 percent of Iowan senior citizens will have no copayment, deductible, or premium. They will get this benefit free. That is not pencil dust. We have another problem that we have not addressed, and that is that in rural States like my State, rural hospitals and other providers, the rural hospitals are going broke and other providers are not taking care of, cannot take any more Medicare patients into their practices, and this bill addresses that. This bill addresses that. Without this bill, we would have a 15 percent cut in physician payments. Without this bill, rural hospitals in Iowa will go bankrupt. This bill provides Iowa with $330 million in additional payments for Medicaid, and this is at a time when my State is struggling to meet its payments. This bill helps seniors. U.S. Seniors endorses it, and Sixty Plus. It helps the providers like physicians to keep taking Medicare patients into their practices. It helps keep the rural hospitals open. That is why it is endorsed by the AMA and the American Hospital Association. Ninety-five percent of seniors would find this a good deal and sign up for this bill. This bill basically is a bird in the hand. That is worth more than two or three in the bush.”