Politics & Government

Rep. Eshoo Gives Thumbs Down to 'Hijacked' Medicare Improvement Bill

From the Washington D.C. office of Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto):

Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement in opposition to H.R. 4015, theSGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014. 

The legislation to reform the outdated Medicare payment methodology, known as the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), was authored and agreed to on a bipartisan basis by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee. 

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Ahead of consideration by the full House, this rare demonstration of bicameral bipartisanship was hijacked by House Republicans with an amendment that delays implementation of the Affordable Care Act: 

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“Medicare has been highly successful in providing seniors and the disabled with health care security every day, and improvements can always be made. With an innovative, permanent fix to the outdated Sustainable Growth Rate system, doctors can focus on providing quality care to their Medicare patients rather than focusing on reimbursements. 

“Paying for these improvements to the Medicare payment system by delaying the individual shared responsibility provision of the Affordable Care Act is the equivalent to robbing Peter to pay Paul. It unnecessarily robs millions of Americans of affordable, quality health insurance while awarding House Republicans still looking to repeal the Affordable Care Act with the ‘Political Brinksmanship of the Year Award.’ 

“I support permanently replacing the Sustainable Growth Rate to pay doctors for Medicare services, but not at the expense of the lawful right of Americans to comprehensive health insurance.”

Eshoo's 18th Congressional District of California includes portions of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. A list of cities and communities located in the District is here.

To follow Congresswoman Eshoo on her web site, click here.

 


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