Darlene Hooley: “Mr. Speaker, I stand here in the well of the people's House today to offer a motion to instruct the conferees of the…”

“Mr. Speaker, I stand here in the well of the people's House today to offer a motion to instruct the conferees of the Medicare prescription drug bill to provide a much-needed payment update to physicians for the next 2 years and eliminate provisions that would privatize Medicare. Right now, as we speak, doctors are faced with the tough choices of treating patients, old friends and new patients alike, or turning them away since the reimbursements under the Medicare program have not kept pace with the costs of practicing medicine. This is not an argument about the quality of health care; it is about the ability to receive health care at all. This is a particular problem in rural areas like those that make up part of my district in Oregon. The decisions that we make on this bill will have a disproportionate impact on the ability of millions of Americans to have access to health care. We cannot enable more doctors to see more Medicare patients if we continue cutting payments to doctors. If we do not act soon, there will be another 4.5 percent reduction in reimbursements to physicians who are treating those who count on their care the most, our seniors. That 4.5 percent cut represents a loss of $20 million to my State alone. The overall costs are staggering, and the damage to the health of American seniors will be as well. For a State with historically low Medicare reimbursements like Oregon, the impact is even greater.”