[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 44 (Thursday, April 18, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H1416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TIME FOR ACTION ON MEDICARE REFORM

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, it is time to take a serious look at the 
problems we have with Medicare. Medicare started for the right reasons; 
there is no question about that, and I do not think we can argue with 
that. We did not want the elderly going without the ability to have the 
proper health care. We all realize it is not perfect and we need to do 
something about the prescription drug portion of it.
  But there is a bigger problem with Medicare, and that is the problem 
of access. Doctors are dropping out across this country in droves. They 
are dropping out because the compensation is too low, and we proposed 
this year to make it even lower. They are dropping out because there is 
a hassle factor of feeling that if they make a little clerical error, 
that they might be drawn in by the police and pulled before the courts.
  I had a woman come to me in a town meeting the other day that said 
she brought her mother from Missouri to Colorado, and they had gone to 
128 doctors trying to find care for her mother and none of them would 
take new Medicare patients.
  If we do not have access, we do not have a program. Congress must 
stop ignoring this problem. It is time for action.

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