Rep. Kelly Supports Bipartisan "Senior Fix" to Reform & Strengthen Medicare
First real entitlement reform achieved in decades
WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA) – a member of the House Ways and Means Committee – spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives today in support of H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which repeals the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and replaces it with a formula that returns stability to Medicare physician payments. The proposal would institute a 0.5 percent payment update every year for five years, and would improve the fee-for-service system by streamlining Medicare’s existing web of quality assurance programs into one value-based performance program, (moving away from the current volume-based system). The House passed the legislation this afternoon by a bipartisan vote of 392-37.
Highlights of Rep. Kelly’s floor remarks:
“This is not so much a ‘doc fix’ as a ‘senior fix.’ … I have been there for the birth of my four children, [and] I have celebrated the birth of our 10 grandchildren. Those are great moments, but I have also sat by the bedside of my mother, my sister, and my father as they lay dying and were transitioning. Those losses are things you can never truly regain, and those are times that if you just had one minute left with those folks, wouldn’t you love to have that? Wouldn’t you love to be there to give them peace of mind? This bill gives them peace of mind, Mr. Speaker. That’s what this bill does. This is a senior fix.”
“As I have watched people pass, both friends and family, what they wanted at their bedside at their time is their faith … the comfort of knowing that their family is with them helping them get through the toughest parts of their life when they’re the most vulnerable … and lastly, they want their doctor. They want to know that that person who has guided them for the last several months and through their lives – the person they have always gone to for their health care – is going to be there and not taken away because of some government program that didn’t work.”
“So I would say as we sit in America’s House, whether we’re Republicans or Democrats, we are people representing people in the best interest of people. This piece of legislation today is truly a senior fix, but a fix for the most vulnerable. I can think of nothing that we could do that is more important than giving peace of mind to those who have given so much to us as families, as states, and as a country. This is a brilliant piece of legislation. And while it may not satisfy all, it serves the needs of many.”
BACKGROUND: The Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) is a formula that was enacted in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 to control Medicare spending on physician services. However, the SGR policy flaws have compelled Congress to override the formula-driven cuts for more than a decade. In fact, since 2003, Congress has spent nearly $170 billion in short-term patches to avoid these unsustainable cuts. The most recent patch will expire on March 31, 2015. H.R. 2 repeals the SGR, averting a 21 percent SGR-induced cut scheduled for April 1, 2015.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) covers more than 8 million children and pregnant women in families that earn income above Medicaid eligibility levels. CHIP prevents millions of children from being uninsured, while keeping them in private coverage models. Although CHIP is authorized through 2019, no new funding is available after FY 2015. H.R. 2 fully funds CHIP through FY 2017.
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