Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Wyoming and my colleague from Oklahoma. We have worked on this, spent tireless hours trying to save not just Medicare but health care as we know it in America today. I think what my colleague has already mentioned is that we have put in place mechanisms in law that will dismantle a health care system the American people feel comfortable with and that has served them well but that we agree is way too expensive. Look at the examples Dr. Coburn has talked about--IPAB, the independent board that will make coverage decisions and reimbursement decisions. When you cut reimbursements, you are going to chase doctors out of the system. As you cut reimbursements, you are going to defund the hospital's ability to keep the doors open in rural America. But let's look at the things that are not obvious. What does that effort by IPAB do to innovation in health care? What companies are going to go out and put $1 billion on the line for development of a new drug or a device given they do not think they can recover enough through the reimbursement system to cover their research and development, much less the approval process of the products?…”