Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mrs. HARSHBARGER. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of Chair Rodgers' Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act, which addresses the Federal Government's discriminatory practices toward disabled and chronically ill patients through the use of quality-adjusted life years.

Quality-adjusted life years are used by bureaucrats and healthcare administrators to assign a numerical value to an individual's life, which is then used to make coverage decisions for medical treatments and services.

Current law already largely prevents the Department of Health and Human Services from using this metric in Medicare ``in a manner that treats extending the life of an elderly, disabled, or terminally ill individual as of lower value.'' This discriminatory metric has even been proposed to be used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The bottom line is this: The Federal Government should not play a role in determining the value of a patient's life.

As a pharmacist for over 30 years, I understand that ensuring patients with disabilities and chronic illnesses have continued access to quality care is of utmost performance.

The Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act will ban the use of quality-adjusted life years in Federal healthcare programs, expanding access to healthcare for Americans and protecting patients across the country.

As a healthcare provider, we take an oath to first do no harm. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this landmark legislation led by Chair McMorris Rodgers and put the interests of patients first.

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