[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 23, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S4000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              DOCTORS WILLING TO ACCEPT MEDICAID PATIENTS

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I would like to call to your attention to 
the extraordinary generosity of a few outstanding citizens in my home 
State. Dr. James Elliot, Dr. Rae Johnston, and Dr. Van Kirke Nelson 
treated more Medicaid patients than any other doctors in Montana. These 
doctors are willing to accept Medicaid patients--and lots of them--even 
though they know that Medicaid will reimburse only a fraction of what a 
private insurance company would pay.
  I want to publicly thank these doctors for their dedication to the 
medical profession and for helping people who depend on Medicaid. Dr. 
Elliot, Dr. Johnston, and Dr. Nelson are willing to make sacrifices for 
the benefit of others. We can learn from their benevolence and their 
valuable community service.
  On average, Medicaid pays only 70 percent of what a doctor charges. 
The doctor is forced to either swallow the cost, or choose not to see 
Medicaid patients. This is what makes physicians like Dr. Elliot, Dr. 
Johnston, and Dr. Nelson so special.
  For example, Dr. Elliot averages a staggering caseload of 40 to 60 
patients a day, not counting the trips he makes to the emergency room. 
In 1995, he treated more Medicaid patients than any other doctor in 
Montana. His Medicaid caseload was so high that the State audited him a 
few years ago. The State not only found no evidence of improprieties, 
they also found that Dr. Elliot charges less than average for most 
services.
  And listen to Dr. Nelson, a personal friend of mine, describe his 
Medicaid patients to the Daily Inter Lake:

       These are real people who may be on tough luck--
  He explains,--

     people struggling to make ends meet on low-paying jobs, and 
     single mothers with little income. These are the sons and 
     daughters of a lot of my friends.

  So when the Senate debates legislation concerning Medicaid, I urge 
you to remember these outstanding citizens--these doctors who are 
willing to make sacrifices in order to assure that ``people on tough 
luck'' receive the health care they deserve. Dr. Elliot, who serves 
Medicaid recipients in the Havre area; Dr. Johnston, a Missoula area 
physician; and Dr. Nelson of Kalispell, whose daughter and daughter-in-
law, both physicians, will probably continue the tradition of caring 
for underprivileged patients, deserve our admiration. The State of 
Montana is indebted to them, and to all the physicians in my State who 
serve Medicaid patients, regardless of their income or ability to pay. 
I am proud to commend them before the U.S. Senate today.

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