Angie Craig: “I am pleased to join today as an original cosponsor of the Medicare Appeals, Regulatory and Contracting Improvements…”

“I am pleased to join today as an original cosponsor of the Medicare Appeals, Regulatory and Contracting Improvements Act, MARCIA. This legislation represents a clear and useful first step toward serious reform of the way Medicare does business with America's health care professionals and Medicare beneficiaries. I have heard from literally hundreds of doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals in Idaho about the truly appalling paperwork and regulatory burdens imposed by the Medicare program, and even more troubling, about how these mounting regulatory burdens are causing many doctors to limit their participation in Medicare or to leave the program altogether. Also, as ranking member on the Senate's Special Committee on Aging, I have made examination of Medicare's paperwork and provider enforcement systems a key priority. In July, our committee held the first of what I hope may be a series of hearings looking into these problems, and this fall, members of my Aging Committee staff traveled across Idaho, talking with more than 60 Idaho providers about their concerns with Medicare. Most recently, I was pleased to have Tom Scully, the energetic and thoughtful new administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, join me in Boise to talk about Medicare with Idaho health professionals and senior citizens. We heard a great deal of frustration, and not a little anger.”