WASHINGTON, DC - Support continues to grow for a permanent resolution to the frequent crises created by the flawed Sustainable Growth Rate formula for Medicare physician payment. Several House Energy and Commerce Committee health leaders have added their voices to the growing chorus of key thought leaders in support of policy solutions that advance real entitlement reforms putting the Medicare program on a more sustainable financial trajectory and improving the quality of care for seniors.
Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts (R-PA):
“For years, the SGR has distorted Medicare’s finances and the federal budget. We’re now very close to permanently replacing it and passing some real Medicare reforms that will have a lasting impact. There’s a lot for conservatives to like here."
Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Vice Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY):
“Now is the time to finally leave the flawed SGR formula in the past, and begin working on real reforms to our health care system that will improve care for seniors while putting the Medicare program on more sound fiscal footing."
Rep. Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX):
“Permanently repealing the SGR and starting to address the biggest driver of our debt would be an important milestone for Congress and the country as a whole. For too long, we have let regular SGR-crises stand in the way of a Medicare system that promotes higher quality care for seniors and strengthens the doctor-patient relationship. This is the closest we’ve come to finally resolving this issue and we cannot afford to let this opportunity pass us by."
Rep. Larry Bucshon, M.D. (R-IN):
“For the first time, real structural reforms that ensure access to quality care for seniors and help us protect the Medicare promise are within our grasp. Let’s build upon the unprecedented progress of last Congress, and solve this problem once and for all."
Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY):
“This is the type of substantive and cost-saving reform the American people elected us to enact. Repealing and replacing the SGR is a milestone achievement that will reduce long-term costs, increase quality of care and implement structural changes to Medicare."
American Action Forum President and former CBO Director Doug Holtz-Eakin:
“…those structural reforms to Medicare will continue to reap benefits in the years beyond the budget window. …A rough projection is that the combination of the Medigap policies and the reduced premium subsidies will cut Medicare outlays by $230 billion over the second 10 years, 2026-2035."
Grace-Marie Turner on Forbes:
“This is an investment today to begin to gain control over a program that by the year 2020 will constitutes more than one-third of the nation’s total debt accumulation. Continuing to play the Medicare doc fix shell game only makes it harder to get control of federal spending, and it keeps Congress from focusing on real and desperately-needed entitlement reform."
Americans for Tax Reform:
“Conservatives should hate SGR, and view its replacement with large structural Medicare reforms as a win-win- of the highest order."
American College of Surgeons:
“Permanently repealing the SGR is smart fiscal policy."
American Medical Association President Robert M. Wah, M.D.:
“It’s time to end this annual game of kicking the can down the road that is unfair to patients and physicians and wastes taxpayer dollars."
Bipartisan Policy Center:
“This is a unique moment in time. We have the opportunity to accomplish three critical tasks: repeal the Medicare SGR, pave the way for broader reforms, and provide near-term certainty to states and low-income families who rely upon CHIP. We encourage Congress to seize the moment and take this important step forward toward meaningful system-wide reform.“
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board:
“Congress is close to repealing a two-decade budget cheat and reforming the entitlement state for the first time in the Obama Presidency."
