Rod Grams: “I am also pleased to be here this morning and to join with my colleagues in introducing the Medicare Payment Equity Act…”

“I am also pleased to be here this morning and to join with my colleagues in introducing the Medicare Payment Equity Act, as the Senator from Wyoming has just outlined. The passage of this legislation, I believe, is critical in righting the wrongs in the Medicare system against States like Minnesota, Kansas, Wyoming, and some of the other more rural States in the country. There are three points I would like to emphasize, just to add to what the Senator from Wyoming has already said. First, again, to reiterate, the Medicare reimbursement formula is just plain unfair. While every American pays the same payroll tax to the Medicare trust fund, Minnesotans find themselves with the second-lowest reimbursement rates in the Nation. By the way, every county in Minnesota falls below the national average in the terms of Medicare reimbursement. Second, the Medicare reimbursement formula discourages quality health care. My State of Minnesota has been consistently recognized throughout the Nation as one of the most innovative, one of the most efficient and cost-conscious States in the terms of health care. Yet these very same qualities, the traits which should be encouraged, not discouraged, have skewed the Medicare formula against our providers and also against our beneficiaries. Finally, the Medicare reimbursement formula discriminates against senior citizens who live in rural areas of America.”