Political Quotes

“You just have to ask yourself what in the heck is going on here. Doctors across this country, our heroes in the healthcare fight that we have been in the last 2 years, are facing significant cuts in their Medicare reimbursements. Instead of getting a commitment from Congress that we are going to work on solving this problem, what do they get? A gimmicky bill tying a reprieve on the Medicare cuts to the debt limit. That is a dead duck over in the other body. It is not going to pass, and the majority knows it is not going to pass. Why don't we face the facts and get things done correctly from the start? Unfortunately, our authorizing committees, the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means, have not seen fit to hold the hearings that would be necessary to provide a solution to this problem. Our providers need and deserve that certainty. Mr. Speaker, I don't know what it is like in your part of the State, but in my part of the State, we are experiencing a shortage of healthcare workers. We are also seeing hospital consolidation becoming more and more prevalent. The coming Medicare cuts will only worsen these issues. Furthermore, we have not even considered the cuts due to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services clinical labor pricing updates. Some studies are now indicating that these cuts could be as significant as 20 percent for some providers. Many of these same providers serve our seniors.…”