[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 186 (Tuesday, December 6, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H8145]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             A PERMANENT FIX TO STOP MEDICARE PROVIDER CUTS

  (Mr. GINGREY of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, Medicare physicians are facing a 
28 percent cut come January 1, 2012, unless this Congress acts to stop 
it. If left alone, these cuts will force many physicians to stop seeing 
Medicare beneficiaries, a move that could harm millions of seniors who 
are in search of care.
  It is incomprehensible that congressional Democrats have already cut 
Medicare provider rates as a way to help pay for ObamaCare and that 
they again offered to cut provider rates during our debt negotiations 
this Congress.
  Providers in my district and across this country have told me that if 
Congress continues to cut provider rates they won't be able to see 
Medicare patients, pure and simple. In fact, CMS actuary Rick Foster 
has told us that the cuts to hospitals in ObamaCare alone will force 15 
percent of these facilities to close. The seniors in my district tell 
me they can't afford to lose their doctors. Let's get a fix to this 
problem done, and done permanently.

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