David Roe

We are concerned that IPAB could ultimately limit access to certain treatments or medications.

More emphasis should be placed on prevention.

We do not believe that IPAB is the best way to achieve this goal.

It should also be noted that IPAB will function much as that deadly robot in the 'Terminator' movies. It will have a single-minded, relentless focus on achieving its cost-cutting function.

Now, if IPAB is expected to cut the payment rates to even lower levels, then we will almost certainly see more physicians unable to treat Medicare beneficiaries and access will become a more critical issue.

IPAB isn't designed to develop meaningful long-term reforms to strengthen the value of the Medicare program. Rather, its mandate is to achieve immediate scorable savings.

I share some of the real concerns of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle about where we are going to be.

I do think that IPAB is actually one of the best approaches as trying to get a handle on what are exploding healthcare costs.

If we do not address it, my child will go to work when she is my age for me to be retired.

The question is how to address this challenge in a way that strengthens and does not undermine the accessibility, the affordability, and quality of healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries and for all Americans.

I am concerned about some aspects of IPAB.

That is just incorrect. That is absolutely incorrect because it is a government-sponsored program.

The President even said Medicare is unsustainable.

I firmly in my core believe that healthcare decisions should be made between physicians, the patients, and their families, not by a board appointed by the President or anybody else, Republican or Democrat.

Congressman Pallone was quoted as he was here today saying he didn't support IPAB and certainly would be in favor of abolishing it.

This is a narrowly targeted piece of legislation designed to deal with this particular provision, which I think deserves and does have bipartisan support.

Why Congress would voluntarily undermine its own authority in this area is really beyond me.

The board is not a solution in search of a problem. Medicare's unfunded liabilities are enormous.

The board exponentially and inappropriately expands the power of the executive branch, giving an unaccountable panel of 15 individuals the authority to make changes to the Medicare program.

Time is of the essence, because our men and women deserve this.

That is a wrong that needs to be corrected.

What is so frustrating for me for her is that, not only is she not included in this bill, she also couldn't be in the workforce and gather time with Social Security.

I mean, this caregiver that I am speaking of, she is a hero to me.

But to give you an example, if the gainful employment rule is to be applied to everybody, I looked at Georgetown, a great university, just before I came here.

I had a medical student's dad call me the other day and said Dr. Roe, he said, my son has $212,000 in student loans and he is starting his residency and he will make about $30,000 a year.