Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, isn't it ironic that Women's History Month is at the same time, in the same week that this article in The New York Times comes out about how this poor woman in Michigan on Medicaid, there is such inadequate Medicaid reimbursement that she cannot get treated for her cancer. Now, I have actually listened to these arguments. I have gone to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and asked them--and I frankly feel a little bit disadvantaged--my colleague from New York, he has been in Congress as a staffer or as a Member, I guess, for 20 or 30 years. I have just been a practicing physician. I still teach in a teaching hospital, a safety net hospital where I actually work with the uninsured. So I don't have the legislative experience, but I do actually have the experience of teaching and treating patients who otherwise would not have care. I just wish that my colleagues could join me. I actually wish they could come with me and see the reality of what is happening. So when my friend says, Oh, my gosh, I think government programs are better than private insurance--ah, I wish he would join me on my telephone town hall where the guy with the Crohn's disease is calling in to say that he has got Medicare and Medicaid and would my office please help him navigate the system. They should be with me when I am with my Medicaid patient who only gets--oh, can I get a referral to a specialist because they won't take Medicaid because it pays so far below their cost.…”