Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation. The bill before us today would accomplish two very important things--provide a long-term fix to the Medicare physician reimbursement problem and implement statutory pay-as-you-go, PAYGO, rules will promote long-term fiscal responsibility for our nation.

Permanent reform of the flawed Medicare physician payment formulas is necessary to ensure that beneficiaries can see their doctor of choice and protect access to care. Consistent with the House Budget Resolution and President Obama's recommendation, this bill uses realistic and responsible assumptions about future Medicare spending on physician services. The choice is clear: We need to fix this problem honestly today and not continue to kick the can down the down the road.

As we put Medicare physician payments on a sustainable path, so must we tend to the fiscal health of our Nation. The day President Obama was sworn into office, he inherited huge deficits and exploding debt in this country. The previous administration wanted to put everything on our national credit card and ask future generations to pay for it. It is the legacy of this irresponsible spending that has left us with today's historic Federal debt.

Fortunately, there is a time-tested solution for bringing our budget back into balance: PAYGO budget rules. We have had the benefit of PAYGO in the past. For example, when the PAGYO rule was in place in the 1990s, our Federal budget went from record deficits to record surplus. In fact, when President Clinton left office, CBO projected that America would have an $800 billion surplus this year. However, when Congress abandoned PAYGO in 2002, the Federal debt exploded. Today, we are saddled with a $1.4 trillion deficit.

Digging out of this economic ditch will take time, but it is important that we put our economy on a long-term, sustainable path. PAYGO will do that by requiring policies that result in revenue reduction or increased mandatory spending be offset over the next 5 and 10 years. It will force Congress to evaluate the tradeoffs inherent in its financial decisions and make hard choices, just like any family in America.

Mr. Speaker, with this legislation, we will be putting our country on a path of fiscal responsibility. Let's tell our children and grandchildren that we're going to take some responsibility. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

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