[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 48 (Thursday, March 22, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PROTECTING ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                      HON. MICHAEL G. FITZPATRICK

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 21, 2012

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5) to 
     improve patient access to health care services and provide 
     improved medical care by reducing the excessive burden the 
     liability system places on the health care delivery system:

  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Chair, over the course of the last two years 
since the President signed the Affordable Care Act into law, bipartisan 
opposition to many portions of this legislation has steadily grown in 
this chamber.
  Today, the House of Representatives passed the Protecting Access to 
Healthcare Act as part of a deliberate, transparent, and comprehensive 
plan to fix America's broken and expensive health insurance system.
  While I favor a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, this effort 
represents removal of the most harmful provisions of President Obama's 
flawed law. The PATH Act does this by enacting much needed medical 
malpractice tort reform to reduce healthcare costs and it repeals 
President Obama's unaccountable Independent Payment Advisory Board, 
IPAB, which would limit Medicare patient access to health care 
services.
  As the House puts forward ideas to protect and save Medicare, the 
Administration has decided it can better serve seniors by cutting 
benefits for seniors by more than $575 billion, and creating a panel of 
unelected, unaccountable Washington bureaucrats tasked with cutting 
Medicare even further.
  More than 230 of my colleagues in the House from both parties and 
over 380 groups representing doctors, patients and employers have 
joined us in opposition to the IPAB.
  I urge the Senate and President to stand with us against this 
overreach of government power and make the Protecting Access to 
Healthcare Act law. Congress must work to reform health care in a way 
that reduces costs for both patients and providers while preserving the 
quality of care that Americans deserve.

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