Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act Of 2009 - Motion To Proceed
Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Twenty-five years taking care of families and the people of Wyoming. I have taken care of people on Medicaid and Medicare. We heard from Senator Burr about North Carolina and Medicaid as well as Medicare and I have concerns about both. I take care of all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. So what we know right now is that the Mayo Clinic--and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, has been held up in the Senate by our colleagues. It has been held up by the President of the United States as the model for what we should try to get to do in America for health care. The Mayo Clinic has now told Medicare and Medicaid patients they are not welcome. It has put out the sign: No vacancies for you. It is astonishing. It is hard to believe the Mayo Clinic would say: No thank you, we don't want you, but they have done that.
Mr. CORKER. So I guess if you had Medicaid, it is kind of like, in many cases, you have something that is not usable; is that correct? I know Senator Alexander has spoken to an analogy in the past in that regard, but it makes it pretty difficult if you are a Medicaid recipient.
Mr. BARRASSO. As the senior Senator from Tennessee said, it is like having a bus ticket when no bus is coming. Others commented in the paper that it is like putting more people into a sinking ship.
Why would the renowned Mayo Clinic not want to see these patients? They are sending out letters saying if you are from these surrounding States--Wyoming and others in the Midwest and the Rocky Mountain West send many patients there--you cannot do it. The Mayo Clinic is able to provide the kind of care they do because they take very few Medicaid patients, they take very few Medicare patients, and they take people who have insurance. That is why we know premiums go up when more people are on Medicaid. There are actually two hospitals in Rochester, MN--Mayo Clinic, where 5 percent of their patients are on Medicaid. At the neighbor hospital in the same community, it is 29 percent of their patients.
The hospitals in Tennessee cannot take everybody out of town. We have to take care of those people. When reimbursement is so low by the Federal Government, which is the biggest deadbeat payer in the world when it comes to health care--the deadbeat Federal Government pays so little, the Mayo Clinic wants nothing to do with them. That is why they came out against these proposals.
Harvard Medical School gave these proposals a failing grade and said people who support these are collectively in denial, because they know we are looking at a health care bill that will raise the cost of care, to be paid for by raising taxes and cutting Medicare for seniors. Our seniors on Medicare cannot even get into the Mayo Clinic. It is fascinating. Mayo set up a branch in Arizona. They say they will no longer accept Medicare for patients seeking primary care at its facility in Arizona: We don't want them. No vacancies for you. If you want to come in, you have to pay additional fees--a $250 annual fee plus anywhere from $174 to $400 a visit if you are on Medicare.
Mr. CORKER. I assume that by the Reid plan taking $464 billion out of Medicare savings and not using that money to deal with this huge doc fix issue--the fact that physicians are going to have a 23-percent cut in a year, they are not dealing with that. I know it costs about $247 billion to keep them whole. I assume that would keep many physicians, such as the Senator's former colleagues from--it would cause them to drop Medicare recipients, is that correct?
(Mr. LEVIN assumed the Chair.)
Mr. BARRASSO. It will absolutely prevent new Medicare and Medicaid patients from getting in. The Medicare cuts will prevent doctors from taking new patients and may cause them to drop others. The concerns are so large, and the concerns aren't just for the doctors. I am concerned for the people in Wyoming, who depend upon Medicare for health care. I know the Senator is concerned for them in Tennessee. How will they get the care they need? More people are coming of Medicare age every day.
This big bill, this monstrosity, will cut close to $500 billion from people who depend on Medicare for their care. The American people--those watching--need this care. But this takes it away to start a whole new government program. It is not fixing the program that is going broke already.
So the hard reality is--and I think the spokesperson for the Mayo Clinic said it well. She said that ``it simply is the reality of the health care business and how we are going to be able to continue our mission when these payments are so far below what it costs to provide the care.''
You are not even talking about staying open, keeping the doors open, breaking even. The reimbursements are so far below what it even costs the Mayo Clinic--the model being held up by Senators on the other side of the aisle--so far below what it costs them to provide care. So as we look at this and say how can we take care of and help the people of America get health care, quality care, what we need to do is be aimed at driving down the cost of care. This means an increase of the cost of care and premiums. They are going to do it by raising taxes, and everybody will be affected. The Senator from North Carolina, a State with an incredible background in technology and advances in medical devices--anything that taxes them will be passed on to everybody, regardless of income level. Every patient in America will suffer. The Mayo Clinic--the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, where anybody in America would like to go for their care--I heard the Senator from Tennessee say, in addition to what the Senator from North Carolina said, that people in his State want to have the same level of care you would have. We would all want that. The Mayo Clinic says if you are on Medicare or Medicaid, like many of the other States, don't come here, because we cannot afford to have you, because Washington--the biggest deadbeat payer of all time--isn't paying enough to keep our doors open.
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I would say to my colleague and friend from Arizona, this type of legislation would have cost my wife her life. She is a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed by a routine screening mammogram. She was in her forties when that mammogram was performed. She went through the testing and had the operation. In that age, in her forties, she already had the breast cancer spread from her breast to one of the lymph nodes. It was a screening mammogram that saved her life. She has had three operations, two bouts of chemotherapy. As a result, she is a survivor--6 years later.
But this piece of legislation says: No, no, do not worry about it. There is not going to be any denial of care. There is not going to be anything like that. But if you turn to page 1,150, it talks specifically about this preventative task force, specifically saying when they make their recommendations there is going to be money that taxpayers are going to pay to tell people what those recommendations are. Then, if you go to page 1,190, it says that if it is not approved, they will deny payment for that service--deny payment. It does not say they might.
Mr. McCAIN. I say to the Senator, you would not describe that as a ``penal panel''?
Mr. BARRASSO. Some people might.
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Mr. BARRASSO. The reasons for that are they are not doing early enough screening, and even once they are able to find the cancer in Great Britain, how long do they have to wait in line until they actually receive the surgery? The delay of care is the denial of care, and that is what is going to happen under this bill.
I see my colleague from Idaho standing as well because he is familiar with this situation. But I look at this and see the numbers. They said: Well, we don't want to cover this service because it would only save 1 life out of 1,900 women in their forties. Well, in my case, that 1 life out of 1,900 was my wife Bobbi.
I know the Senator from Idaho wants to get involved in this discussion.
Senator Risch.
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