Nick Rahall: “I feel like the old farmer who was being severely chastised by his fellow farmers for beating his mule over the head…”

“I feel like the old farmer who was being severely chastised by his fellow farmers for beating his mule over the head because he wouldn't respond to a simple ``gitty-up.'' The farmer gave the stubborn old mule one final whap, and the beast of burden began moving swiftly ahead, pulling his load. The old farmer looked at his fellow farmers, as he tossed the two-by-four on the back of the wagon for future use and said: First, you have to get their attention. Last week I sent out a Dear Colleague about the termination of the Venipuncture home health benefit to get everyone's attention by asking: Have we No Shame? While it may have felt like a two-by-four to many, hopefully it went to the heart of this body so that it can move toward doing something about the fact that the wildly applauded, history-making Balanced Budget Act contained language did, on February 5, 1998, terminate the 13-year old Venipuncture or blood drawing procedure as a skilled home health benefit under Medicare. I hoped a two-by-four would alert them that this lost benefit is having a severe, life-threatening impact on seniors, and that we need to fix it. We can and have spent hours on this floor renaming our National airport, but we have not spent any time on this floor talking about the gross and severe hardships caused by the loss of venipuncture as a home health benefit. I happen to think Venipuncture is more important. My colleagues, we have a dire situation here.…”