Assessing Impact of Medicare Cuts

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for holding this Special Order to discuss the issues of the impact of the Medicare cuts.

In rural communities, like where I serve in south central and southwestern Pennsylvania, seniors rely on Medicare to see their doctors, to fill their prescriptions, and to take an ambulance in case of an emergency. Now, these patients are in serious danger of losing access to their trusted healthcare providers.

Medicare pay cuts, when compiled with 4.6 percent medical inflation, result in increased barriers to care for Medicare beneficiaries.

Let's be clear about what these cuts mean for a Medicare patient, and these cuts, for everyone's information, have already gone into effect on January 1.

These cuts mean that rural and small providers will be forced to restrict access to Medicare patients and, in dire cases, will be unable to keep their doors open at all.

As a doctor, I understand firsthand the negative impact that these significant year-after-year cuts have on rural providers.

Now, extrapolate that and then compound that with already existing workforce shortages in underserved areas like my district in rural Pennsylvania. I can assure you the repercussions are dire. These cuts jeopardize physicians' ability to provide quality care for elderly patients in our communities.

When physicians who participate in Medicare are increasingly being forced to do more with less, it is ultimately the patient who will suffer. These cuts will accelerate practice consolidation and force patients into higher cost settings for care. It will mean longer travel times and longer wait times for patients to see their family doctor, to see a surgeon, and to see a specialist.

As physicians and as legislators, we have an obligation to work to find a solution for Medicare patients. Congress must step in and address these cuts before they do any additional damage to our healthcare system.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for holding this Special Order hour.

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