[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 23, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E696]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             PROTECTING THE MEDICAID SAFETY NET ACT OF 2008

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                               speech of

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 22, 2008

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to H.R. 5613, 
legislation halting the implementation of a package of new Medicaid 
rules. The proponents of H.R. 5613 are correct that halting some of 
these rules will protect needed Medicaid reimbursements for health care 
providers. However, some of the rules that H.R. 5613 blocks address 
abuses of Federal Medicaid dollars that should be halted. Greater 
efforts to ensure Medicaid resources are properly spent will help those 
health care providers most in need of continued support from the 
Medicaid program, since a Medicaid dollar lost to fraud and abuse is a 
dollar that cannot be spent helping hospitals and physicians provide 
health care to the poor.
  Had members been given the opportunity to offer amendments, we could 
have fashioned a bill that would have protected needed reimbursements 
for legitimate health care expenditures while addressing legitimate 
concerns about misuse of Medicaid funds. Unfortunately, the House 
leadership chose to deny members the ability to improve this bill, and 
have a meaningful debate on how to ensure Medicaid's financial 
stability without denying care to those dependent on the program, by 
putting this bill on the suspension calendar.
  According to some estimates, failure to implement the proposed 
regulations could cost the already financially fragile Medicaid system 
as much as 10 billion over the next several years. Yet, the sponsors of 
this bill refuse to make a serious effort to address these costs. Mr. 
Speaker, instead of rushing H.R. 5613 into law, we should be looking 
for ways to shore up Medicaid by making cuts in other, lower priority 
programs, using those savings to ensure the short-term fiscal stability 
of federal entitlement programs while transitioning to a more stable 
means of providing health care for low-income Americans. I have been 
outspoken on the areas I believe should be subject to deep cuts in 
order to finance serious entitlement reform that protects those relying 
on these programs. I will not go into detail on these cuts, although I 
will observe that in recent weeks this Congress has authorized billions 
of new foreign aid spending, yet today we are told we cannot find the 
money to address Medicaid's long-term financial imbalances.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5613 may provide some short-term benefit to 
Medicaid providers, however, it does so by further jeopardizing the 
long-term fiscal soundness of the Medicaid program. Thus, this passage 
of this bill will ultimately damage the very low-income Americans the 
bill aims to help.

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