"This proposal was a bad idea on its own terms as a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. It is disastrous."
"Georgia recently enacted a law to allow the purchase of health coverage across state lines."
"Insurance companies would be empowered to avoid caring for the sick people who cut into their profit margin."
"Reduced insurance premiums for some people are little consolation for the consumers who, under H.R. 371, would be left without coverage."
"I hope that today's hearing will be a useful one for my colleagues."
"According to the most recent Congressional Budget Office estimate if nothing is done physicians will see reimbursement for services provided to Medicare patients cut by 29.4 percent on January 1, 2012..."
"The system that is currently used to pay physicians for providing services to beneficiaries in the Medicare System is broken and has been for some time."
"This staggering price tag is just one side of the physician payment reform problem."
"I hope that this hearing will not focus narrowly on options that would shift our problems paying for the SGR onto beneficiaries."
"I earnestly hope we can work together on a bipartisan basis to solve this issue this year."
"It would be unacceptable to have anything less than the highest standards for our nuclear power plants."