Political Quotes

“I want to strongly urge my colleagues to vote for the motion to proceed. We have had a good debate over the last three days, and it is clear that right now patients across the country are facing a crisis of access to quality health care. Congress needs to act. The upcoming vote will allow us to fully debate this critical issue. If action is delayed, we know what will happen: Patients will suffer, doctors will continue to flee their practices, and more States will be added to the AMA crisis list. Since we last debated this issue seven more States have joined the list, that is nearly a 60 percent increase over last year. I have received letters from doctors all over America, including from my home State of Tennessee. Premiums in Tennessee have gone up 68 percent over the last four years, and Tennessee is not even considered a crisis state by the AMA yet. One doctor from Waverly, TN writes: My insurance premiums as a general surgeon have jumped over 70 percent in the last four years. The current crisis has forced me to limit doing any moderate to high risk surgery . . . There are counties around mine that have lost the services of their general surgeons who have opted to limit their practices to family practices . . . rather than continue to pay the high premiums that are prohibitive for a surgeon in rural Tennessee.”