The Doctors Caucus: House of Representatives

Floor Speech

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Mr. DesJARLAIS. Thank you, Dr. Gingrey. I hail from Marion County, which is South Pittsburg, would be the hometown.

Before coming to Congress I had the opportunity to serve the people in Tennessee as a primary care physician. In 1994 Tennessee embarked on an experiment with the Medicaid program, which became known as TennCare. Unfortunately, it never accomplished its goal of improving on the flawed Medicaid system.

To the contrary, it became a breeding ground for waste, fraud, abuse and inefficiency. I witnessed the frustration of my patients, my staff and myself as we struggled to combat this bureaucratic web that forced us to spend time navigating administrative hurdles rather than focusing on quality care.

Another problem that rapidly evolved was over-utilization of the system. Often, only one family member was ill, but other family members were requesting to be seen simply because it was more convenient than making other arrangements for the non-ill member, such as children, to be cared for elsewhere. This also became, and continues to be, a problem in the emergency rooms. There is no cost difference to the patients, so there is no disincentive to utilize the ER for nonemergent care. In fact, this is a national problem, with up to 80 percent of ER visits being deemed nonemergent. This leads to much longer wait times in emergency rooms for those patients who are critically ill. It should also be noted that ER visits are obviously much more expensive than office visits, further driving up the cost unnecessarily.

A simple solution to improving the problem of over-utilization would be implementing a nominal copay system in which office visits cost something like $5 per visit and ER visits might cost $20. This simple step would likely have far-reaching effects to reduce costs, over-utilization, and thus increase availability of care for those who need it. We should see TennCare as a warning of the many problems that a government-run health care model creates.

There are certainly issues with our Nation's health care system that need to be addressed, and the GOP Doctors Caucus has no shortage of good ideas on how to make health care more affordable and expand coverage. But what we stand firm in saying is that ObamaCare is not the answer to the problem, but, rather, it creates an even bigger problem.

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee, and I thank him for making sure that I know exactly what county and counties he represents. I know it's a great State and a great part of the State, and we are very proud of the good doctor.

At this time, I want to yield to another freshman member of their class of 87 strong. It's a fantastic class, Mr. Speaker. We are awfully proud of each and every one of the new Members, but especially those who have that health care background, that experience to come to this body, to this Chamber and to this town and bring some professional expertise. We don't have all the answers, Mr. Speaker. And I'm proud of these physician colleagues of mine because they're not know-it-alls, but they know what they know and they know it well.

At this point, I would like to yield time to the gentlewoman from New York, an ophthalmologist, Dr. Nan Hayworth.

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