Affordable Healthcare for America Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of legislation to retroactively reverse a 21 percent payment cut for doctors in Medicare and TRICARE and update the flawed Medicare physician payment formula.

Rather than the 21 percent payment cut, physicians will see a 2.2 percent update in their payment rates through November, 30, 2010. Though I would prefer a permanent, long-term solution to this problem, this legislation is necessary so that Medicare beneficiaries can continue to see their doctor of choice and access the care they need. The uncertainty of payments is causing difficulties for physicians who provide services under Medicare because their practices cannot adequately plan for the expenses they incur for treating Medicare beneficiaries.

Congress needs to fix this problem in a permanent manner. The House has passed legislation this Congress that would have done exactly that. Unfortunately, it was blocked in the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, while I urge my colleagues to support this bill before us, I also urge all my colleagues in both the House and Senate to recommit themselves to passing legislation that will permanently fix Medicare payments to physicians.

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