Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act Of 2009

Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act Of 2009

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Ms. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3961, the ``Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2009.'' Our seniors and veterans have worked for affordable, quality, and accessible health care. The bill before us, H.R. 3961, ensures that Medicare payments fairly compensate physicians for their services. This legislation will ensure that doctors will be available to treat their Medicare patients.

Over the last five years, Medicare payment rates to doctors were set artificially low just to keep the system from becoming insolvent. That was the wrong approach. Instead of saving money, the system had the unintended consequence of discouraging doctors from accepting Medicare patients. Under the ``Sustainable Growth Rate'' formula, or ``SGR,'' employed by the previous Administration and Congresses, the rate of physicians' reimbursement steadily decreased in order to restrain the growth of overall Medicare spending. So while aggregate spending was balanced, payments to individual doctors provided minimal incentive for them to continue treating Medicare patients.

Indeed, if this flawed SGR formula were implemented in its current form, Medicare physicians would suffer a 21 percent fee reduction in January 2010. This would be disastrous for Medicare patients because many of their doctors would no longer be able to afford to provide them with the quality care they need.

H.R. 3961 will allow doctors to keep their doors open to their Medicare and TRICARE patients. Rather than being reimbursed based on some externally constructed, faulty measure such as the SGR, doctors will be reimbursed based on a new measure, one that reflects the actual cost of the services they provide to their patients. H.R. 3961 also sets 2009 as the baseline for years to come. This means that, rather than a steadily declining reimbursement, doctors will experience a reimbursement rate that either matches or slightly exceeds what they received the year before. This bill ends the cycle of fee reductions based on an artificially constructed formula and replaces it with a stable system that reflects the valuable relationship between seniors and their doctors.

In my district alone, there are more than 60,000 seniors on Medicare. For them, this bill means access to the quality care provided by their doctor. Since doctors know they will be reimbursed fairly for their services, they will not feel compelled to close their doors to the Medicare and TRICARE patients in my district.

This bill also establishes more moderate target growth rates for Medicare spending. These target growth rates are much more realistic than the SGR and they will not result in the types of fee reductions like the 21 percent reduction that is currently threatening physicians. Finally, this bill encourages integrated care so that providers can communicate and develop a comprehensive wellness plan that meets the needs of each patient.

Mr. Speaker, it is not surprising that President Obama strongly supports H.R. 3961. He understands the relationship between reasonable reimbursement rates and availability of
quality care for Medicare beneficiaries. Likewise, the American Medical Association supports this bill because it provides physicians with the financial stability they need to invest in the infrastructure needed to build a health care system that works. The AARP supports this bill because it represents meaningful, sustainable reform for the 40 million seniors it represents.

I support this bill because it continues the work we began this month when we passed the historic Affordable Health Care for America Act. This necessary and timely reform benefits our seniors and our veterans. As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, the security and peace of mind that this legislation will bring to our seniors and veterans is something for which we can all be thankful. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3961.

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