Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for the recognition. Mr. Chairman, I will focus my remarks on the Independent Payment Advisory Board because it encompasses all that is wrong with the Affordable Care Act. The health law itself contains policies that will disrupt the practice of medicine. Along with the many excesses and constrictions within the law, the Independent Payment Advisory Board represents the very worst of the worst of what will happen. As a physician, as a Member of Congress, as a father, as a husband, as a patient in his sixties, I am offended by the Independent Payment Advisory Board. This board is not accountable to any constituency, and it exists only to cut provider payments to fit a mathematically created target. The board throws the government into the middle of what should be a sacred relationship between the doctor and the patient. The doctor and the patient should have the power to influence prices and guide care, not this board. Beyond controlling Medicare, the Independent Payment Advisory Board's rationing edicts will serve as a benchmark for private insurance carriers' own payment changes. Although Mr. Waxman bemoaned the fact that private insurance would be part of Medicare, this thing will actually dictate the behavior of private insurances in this country. The board will have far-reaching implications beyond Medicare for our Nation's doctors.…”