[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 100 (Thursday, July 21, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               IN REFERENCE TO HALL RESOLUTION (H.R. 261)

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                        HON. ALBERT RUSSELL WYNN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 21, 2005

  Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, my distinguished colleague from Texas, Mr. 
Hall is to be commended for authoring a resolution to get a sense of 
the Congress on the issue of extending the CMS quality of cancer care 
demonstration project. I share his concern to preserve this country's 
cancer care treatment system and expressed this, in a bipartisan letter 
sent to the President, along with Mr. Hall and 95 of my House 
colleagues.
  For the record, I note that Mr. Hall's resolution makes no mention of 
extending the demonstration project at the current funding level of 
$300 million. Additionally, as mentioned in our letter to the 
President, the resolution does not mention the real problems with the 
new Medicare payment system for cancer care, but only addresses the 
short-term fix of extending the demonstration project.
  Among other problems, the new Medicare system pays closer to market 
rates for cancer drugs. This is a step in the right direction. However, 
it now does not pay for the pharmacy costs related to those drugs. As 
another example, Medicare does not pay community oncologists for the 
treatment planning that provides for each new cancer case.
  I implore my colleagues to support the extension of the cancer care 
demonstration project at the level of $300 million. I also ask my 
colleagues to direct CMS to work with community cancer care on 
permanent solutions. American's access to quality, affordable, and 
accessible cancer treatment needs to be preserved.

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