Orrin Hatch: “I would like to take a few minutes to talk once again about the ongoing effort to replace the Medicare sustainable…”

“I would like to take a few minutes to talk once again about the ongoing effort to replace the Medicare sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula. As we know, SGR has been a problem pretty much since its inception. Members of both parties have grown tired of passing temporary SGR patches that have been cobbled together at the last minute behind closed doors. This constant, seemingly unending, cycle has only grown more tiresome as the years have gone by. That is why a little over 2 years ago a group of leaders from both the House and the Senate set out to fix this problem once and for all. I was part of this effort. I was joined on the Senate side by former Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. Together, Senator Baucus and I worked with the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees to craft legislation that would repeal and replace SGR with an improved payment system that rewards quality, efficiency, and innovation. While many critics deemed our efforts a lost cause, we introduced our bill in late 2013 and got it reported out of the Finance Committee on a voice vote. That same legislation formed the basis of the SGR bill that passed overwhelmingly in the House with 392 votes at the end of March. Now the bill is before the Senate. It is my hope that we will act quickly to pass this bipartisan, bicameral legislation and send it to the President's desk as soon as possible. This SGR bill is historic for a number of reasons.…”