On the recordMarch 19, 2010
I am a physician. And not only am I a physician, but I have actually been working to treat the uninsured for the last 20 years. My practice has been for the uninsured, so it is a little bit different. And one reason that I ran for office is I was frustrated with the way that politicians always dealt with health care. It is a truism: Politicians overpromise and underfund. We can see that with Medicare going bankrupt in 7 years. We can see that with Medicaid bankrupting States. And I saw that in my practice, because everybody would be promised these benefits, and in my practice I could not get them for them. Inevitably, quality and access suffered. But we are told now it's different. We are told, No, believe us this time we are going to adequately fund. We are going to adequately fund by taking $500 billion from Medicare to create a new entitlement. Wow, we are really doing a lot for Medicare there, aren't we? We are going to expand Medicaid; Medicaid, which is bankrupting States. So now, instead of somebody having no insurance and being unable to see a physician, we are now going to give them Medicaid. But we are going to have to decrease payments so much that we are going to raise taxes, costing jobs, and they still won't be able to see a patient.
