Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The Republicans do rise in support of this 1-year fix for the reimbursement rate for physicians. Having said that, I think I was able to listen to some of what my distinguished subcommittee chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Pallone, was saying as I was waiting for the tram to come over here. It is time, Mr. Speaker, for Members on both sides of the aisle to put aside partisan politics and in the upcoming year or years, if it takes more than 1 year, sit down and let's really come up with a new formula to fix permanently how we pay our physicians. The current formula is based on an index that is based on inflation; and under the score keeping, any year in which medical expenses go up more rapidly than the general inflation rate, I am simplifying the index but this is the basic part of it, you have to find savings in that particular year or there is a negative balance created in the physician reimbursement fund. The current system is not sustainable. It doesn't work. It doesn't reflect the practice of medicine. But because of our score keeping, we keep getting further and further behind and so each year the 1-year cut gets bigger and bigger. This year it would be 25 percent.…”