SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, I regret that I cannot be present for today's session, as I am joining Admiral Mike Connor, Commander of our nation's submarine forces, on a visit to an in-service Virginia class submarine to see firsthand the skill of our submariners and the vital role they play in our nation's defense. It will also give me a chance to review and discuss the Navy's FY 15 request for Virginia class submarine construction and the Ohio Class Replacement Program, critical issues for the Second District of Connecticut. Had I been present, however, I would have voted ``no'' on the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act (H.R. 4015).

For too long, the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula has created a weight of uncertainty not only for Medicare beneficiaries and veterans, but more broadly throughout our health care system. For the past decade, health care providers from around the country have had to leave their practices to travel to Washington and ask for relief from SGR's automatic rescission. This is not right. It is counterproductive and wasteful. And, a permanent fix--which I strongly support and have worked on a bipartisan basis to achieve--is long overdue.

Committee efforts in the House and Senate to repeal the SGR formula permanently have been a bipartisan, bicameral bright spot in the 113th Congress. Unfortunately, the injection of a partisan fiscal offset into H.R. 4015 has decimated previous, widespread endorsements of the proposal, now generating opposition from the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association of Retired People (AARP). The White House has also announced that if President Obama were presented with this measure, he would veto it. As amended, I too cannot support H.R. 4015 and had I been present for the vote on the legislation, I would have voted ``no.''

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