[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 171 (Wednesday, December 4, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H7491]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RESTORING MEDICARE ADVANTAGE CHOICE FOR OUR SENIORS

  (Mr. ROTHFUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROTHFUS. Mr. Speaker, Medicare Advantage provides quality 
coverage to many seniors in western Pennsylvania. It is popular because 
it provides more options and increased care coordination.
  Until 2011, seniors were able to take advantage of an annual open 
enrollment period from January through March and make adjustments if 
the plan they chose did not meet their needs. Unfortunately, the 
Affordable Care Act eliminated this option.
  The Wall Street Journal recently reported that one of the Nation's 
largest Medicare Advantage providers had dropped thousands of doctors 
from its network. As a result, seniors may be unsure about whether they 
need to switch plans to continue seeing their doctors when the current 
open enrollment period ends this Saturday.
  This uncertainty underscores the importance of the Medicare 
Beneficiary Preservation of Choice Act, H.R. 2453, which Congressman 
Kurt Schrader and I introduced earlier this year. This bill would 
restore seniors' freedom to try their plans and make changes.
  I thank my 13 Republican and Democrat colleagues for joining me in 
advocating for our seniors, and I encourage Members on both sides of 
the aisle to support this commonsense and bipartisan legislation.

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