Sessions: Repealing, Replacing SGR a Win for Docs, Patients, Taxpayers

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the House Rules Committee, today issued the following statement in response to the House’s  passage of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (H.R. 2), which repeals the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and replaces it with a long-term solution to Medicare repayment:

“For far too long, we have let doctors shoulder the financial burden for a policy that was well-intended, but deeply flawed. For far too long, we have forced America’s seniors to go without the quality health care they need because not enough good doctors could afford to treat them. And for far too long, we have spent money we don’t have patching the failings of the SGR formula. But finally, the House today passed legislation that would provide a long-term solution to the problem of Medicare reimbursement.

“Doctors become doctors because they want to heal their patients and eliminate human suffering, not because they want to navigate through bad policies that force them to pick and choose the patients they treat. This bipartisan bill ensures they will no longer have to do that. It also ensures America’s seniors get the best quality care, not just the only care available to them. But perhaps most importantly, it ensures American taxpayers will no longer be burdened with the high cost of short-term doc fixes thanks to real entitlement reform that will lead to long-term savings.

“I applaud my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for voting to fix this broken model once and for all and get Medicare on a path toward solvency.”

For more information on H.R. 2, to repeal the Medicare sustainable growth rate and strengthen Medicare access by improving physician payments and making other improvements, and to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, click here.  

###

Created:
Mar 26, 2015