Joe Pitts: “We need to pay our doctors. We cannot continue to make it more difficult for doctors to make the decisions to see…”

“We need to pay our doctors. We cannot continue to make it more difficult for doctors to make the decisions to see Medicare patients. A permanent fix is absolutely necessary. Having said that, the bill we voted on this week took a very short-sighted approach. By cutting the successful and innovative Medicare Advantage program in order to pay for the doctors' payment fix, there will be cuts to Medicare Advantage plans that will reduce access, benefits, and choices for millions of our senior citizens, especially low income seniors and those in rural areas. We can take care of our doctors without cutting benefits for our seniors, our Nation's senior citizens. The cuts to Medicare Advantage were $47.5 billion. This would do great damage to an effective aspect of Medicare that serves our senior citizens. We can do better than that.”