Political Quotes

“I would join with my friend from Rhode Island in thanking everyone who has been involved in this issue. But I also would join today with those who express great concern about the bill that is in front of us. It has been said that there are no losers as it relates to home health care in this bill. The difficulty is, for me in representing my constituency in Michigan, there are also no winners in this bill. It has been estimated that in Michigan almost half of our home health care agencies will no longer be able to serve Medicare patients by the end of this year, almost half of those who provide home health care now. In Michigan, unfortunately, on average, this bill provides only $58.00 in additional home health care services, $58.00 to agencies that are already tremendously efficient providing quality home health care. This is not enough of a fix. This does not, in fact, stop the 15 percent cut for next year. I urge the conference committee create a better solution so we can provide quality home health care into the future.”