Roger Marshall: “I certainly appreciate the chairman's comments and his sincere commitment. We certainly share some of the same goals.…”

“I certainly appreciate the chairman's comments and his sincere commitment. We certainly share some of the same goals. Practicing medicine in rural Kansas for 25 years, we have been faced with physician shortages for decades, with nursing shortages for decades, and we both agree that is a problem. But the difference is, I don't think that the government is the solution to the problem; I think that the government has created the problem, that physicians and nurses are so tired of dealing with all the redtape, all the continuing burden that the ACA has put on us. I am so proud of the doctors and nurses. When this country called for them in an emergency, we--including myself--volunteered, rushing to the frontlines of the emergency rooms to take care of patients. Now this Congress is going to reward them with a pay cut, by the way. But this is not the solution to the doctor shortages or the nurse shortages. The solution is to respect the profession, to remove some of the redtape. Allow us to be doctors and nurses. Don't make us be tied down with issues like prior authorization, which I know your committee is seriously considering as well. We appreciate your work on that as well. Certainly, I do have people who come to my townhalls--and, like you, we have been to 100 counties in the past 2 years. We have five left to go. And what people ask me is: Why do our kids in the Head Start Programs still need to wear a mask? Do they do any good?…”