Medicare Access and Chip Reauthorization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it takes a lot of time, energy, effort, hard work, and study to become a physician. I think they ought to be adequately compensated for the services they provide, especially when they serve the most needy health population in our country--our senior citizens.

We call this the doctor fix, but it is really not about the doctor fix. It is about fixing health care. It is about CHIP. It is about community health centers that serve more than 23 million low- and moderate-income citizens each and every year. It is about the National Health Service Corps training physicians. It is about the home visiting program.

I represent a district that has 24 hospitals, four outstanding medical schools, and so we train and educate many doctors, nurses, and other health personnel.

This is not just a good day for the doctors; it is a good day for health care, and it is a good day for America.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 is a bill that determines how doctors get adequate pay for providing medical services to Medicare recipients. For the past 12 years, the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula has impeded stability in the Medicare program for providers and beneficiaries. Seventeen times Congress have done short term fixes, known as patches, that range from 3 to 12 months. Physicians should and deserve equitable reimbursement and not a lower reimbursement rate for the services they provide to our seniors. This is one of the leading reasons why physicians are leaving their practice or not accepting Medicare patients. We should repeal SGR and establish a legislative long-term fix that offers payment stability for our doctors. H.R. 2 will do just that and allow doctors to develop long-term strategic planning for their practice and time to invest in electronic health information technology and other medical systems to improve access and quality care for their patients.

Now is the time to capitalize on the lower offset now projected for the permanent repeal of the SGR formula otherwise failure to do so may cause problems for many providers to see Medicare patients. Ten thousand new enrollees enter Medicare each day. Access to physicians will suffer for the Medicare population as the gap between payments and practice costs continue to grow.

H.R. 2 fully fund the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for two years. CHIP is a partnership between the federal government and the States to provide healthcare coverage for over eight million children. Also, this legislation extends funding for two years to Community Health Centers to avoid draconian cuts to their services and operations in their communities. Community health centers play a critical role in the delivery of care to our most financially and medically vulnerable populations, and thus play an instrumental role in efforts to achieve health equity. Health centers serve one in seven Medicaid beneficiaries, one in seven uninsured, and one in three individuals living below poverty. African Americans, Asians/Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, American Indians/Alaskan Natives, and persons with multi-racial and ethnic backgrounds account for 36 percent of all health center patients. Approximately 34 percent of health center patients are Hispanic/Latino, and health centers serve one in four racial and ethnic minorities living in poverty.

Community health centers are a local solution to the delivery of primary care--which is precisely how care works best--and services that are tailored to meet local needs, specific to each community. Health centers save the health care system money by keeping patients out of costlier health care settings, coordinating care amongst providers of different health disciplines, and effectively managing chronic conditions. Recent independent research shows that health centers currently save the health care system $24 billion annually in reduced emergency, hospital, and specialty care costs, including an estimated $6 billion annually in combined state and federal Medicaid savings. Despite serving traditionally at-risk populations, community health centers meet or exceed national practice standards for chronic condition treatment and ensure that their patients receive more recommended screening and health promotion services than patients of other providers. Health centers also have a substantial and positive economic impact on their communities. In 2009 alone, health centers across the country generated $20 billion in total economic benefit and produced 189,158 jobs in the nation's most economically challenged neighborhoods.

H.R. 2 includes the MIECHV home visiting program, which I worked in a bipartisan and bicameral way in Congress to establish a national program that serves approximately 115,000 parents and children. Under this legislation this program will be extended to improve child health, child development, and readiness to learn.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in full support of H.R. 2 and encourage all my colleagues to vote for this bill.

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