Chris Van Hollen: “with regret, I rise in opposition to the Medicare conference report now before us. Rather than giving seniors the…”

“with regret, I rise in opposition to the Medicare conference report now before us. Rather than giving seniors the simple, comprehensive and affordable prescription drug benefit they deserve, this bill recklessly undermines the Medicare program, threatens many seniors' existing drug coverage and fails to bring down skyrocketing drug costs. Let's be clear: This is not about whether we ought to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. Democrats--including myself-- have been calling for a meaningful Medicare prescription drug benefit for years. Now that the Republican party has dropped its historic opposition to modernizing Medicare, there is broad consensus--at least rhetorically--on the importance of this goal. Additionally, this is not about whether doctors should receive a positive payment update for services rendered under Medicare. I think everyone in this chamber understands we could pass a free-standing positive payment update for physicians today--and by a wide margin. Frankly, I would be first in line--because I don't think you can ask providers to participate in a program without adequate reimbursement. But if we were really interested in giving doctors a fair reimbursement rate, we would end this untenable ritual of dodging the next round of scheduled payment cuts with stop-gap, band-aid measures and finally get around to fixing the obviously flawed Medicare reimbursement formula once and for all.”