Political Quotes

“I rise today to advocate for increasing Medicare efficiency and effectiveness by introducing the Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers, SMART, Act of 2011 with my colleagues, Senators Portman, Ben Nelson, and Burr. The SMART Act initiates common sense changes to the Medicare Secondary Payer, MSP, system, as a means of achieving that efficiency and effectiveness. This system kicks in whenever a Medicare beneficiary is injured and another party accepts responsibility to pay for the costs associated with that injury, making Medicare the ``secondary payer.'' For example, if a Medicare beneficiary is injured when she slips in a store the store reimburses her for the costs of the injury. In this scenario the store becomes the party responsible for paying the costs associated with the injury, and if Medicare pays any of the costs associated with the injury, it has to be reimbursed. The purpose of this system is to ensure that Medicare does not pay claims that a third party is liable for. Although seemingly obvious, the system currently on the books is set up in manner that is unnecessarily burdensome to all parties involved in these claims. At the heart of the problem is the lack of financial disclosure by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS.…”