Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. BERA. Mr. Speaker, I want to first thank my colleague from the great State of Washington, Ms. DelBene, as well as my good friend from Pennsylvania, Mr. Kelly, as well as my fellow doctor, Dr. Bucshon.

This was how legislative processes should work. You identify a challenge, you work on it, you work on it in a bipartisan way. But you put the American patient first because that is what this it about at the end of the day. How do we give efficient, quality care to America's patients, and, in this case, America's seniors.

I have been practicing medicine going back to 1995. And yeah, I have used a fax machine back in 1995. This is about coming into the 21st century, modernizing the practice of medicine.

It is also about letting us do what we went to medical school for, what we did residency for. After 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of medical school, anywhere from 3 to 7 years and longer of residency training, doctors want to be doctors. They want to take care of their patients.

Yes, there is a role for prior authorization in limited cases. There is also a role to go back and retrospectively look at how care is being delivered. But what is happening today is a travesty. It wasn't the intention of prior authorization. It is a prior authorization process gone awry. And let me give you some examples.

When I talk to my former colleagues, the folks I went to medical school with, they spend up to 40 percent of their time on paperwork, on administrative burden, on doing things that don't enhance clinical care or enhance their ability to take care of patients.

We heard Dr. Murphy talk about the delays in care. That adds costs, that adds time, and in some cases, it occasionally will potentially kill a patient. That isn't what this is about.

This is about providing America's seniors efficient care, reducing the burden, and allowing doctors to do what we went to medical school for, take care of patients.

Let's bring this into the 21st century, and let's start to put the patient central in American healthcare. And that is how we are going to actually lower costs of care, deliver better outcomes, and improve satisfaction.

We see a lot of doctors leaving the practice of medicine because of that administrative burden, the hassle factor. That doesn't improve care. That actually makes care worse.

So let's move into the 21st century. Let's deliver that care, and let's move forward.

This is a shining example of how Congress should work. If you think about it, 320-plus Members of Congress, in a bipartisan way, of the House, support this legislation. All of the doctors in Congress support this legislation. You have got Senate support of this legislation. Over 500 groups of my colleagues support this legislation. It is about good medicine. It is about taking care of the patients.

I also want to recognize my prior senior healthcare legislative assistant, Colleen Nguyen, who worked incredibly hard on this, as well as my current healthcare legislative assistant, Harsh Patel. As Congresswoman DelBene pointed out, it is the staff that makes us look good.

Everybody should vote for this, and we should pass it unanimously.

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