Kevin Brady: “I rise on behalf of Chairman Paul Ryan, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, in support of H.R. 2, a bill led by…”

“I rise on behalf of Chairman Paul Ryan, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, in support of H.R. 2, a bill led by Dr. Michael Burgess, and I am joined by many of our colleagues, both here in the House and throughout the country. This bill is critical because of this problem. Imagine you are a senior. You desperately need to see a doctor, but you learn that there are no local doctors who can treat you because they simply can't afford to treat Medicare patients. Or they have been throughout the years faced each year with a 10, 20, 30 percent cut in their reimbursements and, as the sole practitioner or as a small business, have rethought their relationship with Medicare and are no longer, frankly, able to do that. That scenario has been played out across this country for far too long. If there is any group in America who needs to see doctors they know and who know them, it is our seniors. This bill takes the first real permanent step to ensuring our seniors can see local doctors when they need to see them, and it takes the first real step in saving Medicare not just for these seniors, not just for the next generation, but for generations to come. I commend the work that has been done by the leaders of the Ways and Means Committee; Chairman Ryan; Chairman Fred Upton of the Energy and Commerce Committee; our physicians caucus, led by Dr. Phil Roe and Dr.…”