Political Quotes

“I rise today to express my qualified support for the prevention initiatives in the Budget Reconciliation Spending Act. H.R. 2015 extends Medicare coverage for several preventive tests, including colorectal cancer screening. This is a tremendous step forward. This is a better bill because of it. Under budget rules, this prevention initiative has to be scored as costing the Treasury money. But, in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. In the long run, screening saves money. It saves Medicare the expense of months or years of costly care. Much more importantly, it saves lives. Some of you may know that I am a colon cancer survivor. After having surgery to remove my cancer, I made a commitment to do everything I can to help others beat this terrible disease. This bill is a downpayment on that commitment. There is one way this legislation could be improved, however. Unfortunately, H.R. 2015 limits the screening tests available to patients and doctors. It provides Medicare coverage for some tests, but denies coverage for a test called the barium enema. I have had all these tests. Take my word for it--there is nothing pleasant about any of them. Cancer patients will not be demanding to have these tests unless their doctors think it's absolutely necessary. And doctors are in the best position to decide whether these tests are necessary. Congress is not. It makes no sense for Congress to be legislating against specific screening tests.”