[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 10, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H23-H24]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING THE LATE SERGEANT JUAN ERIC CANTU

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Murphy) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an incredible man and 
former constituent, the late Sergeant Juan Eric Cantu.
  Sergeant Cantu honorably served our Nation as a member of the U.S. 
Army during the war in Vietnam with the 228th Aviation Battalion 
associated with the 1st Cavalry Division. He deployed to Vietnam from 
1966 to 1968 and was a tail gunner on a Chinook helicopter and a fixed 
rotor mechanic.
  He served as commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars, president of 
Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 892, and a founding member of 
AMVETS Post 1111.
  Additionally, Mr. Cantu founded the legendary GI Joe's Living 
Military History Museum in Kinston, which displays memorabilia, 
uniforms, weapons, and photos from all major conflicts starting with 
the Revolutionary War and became a place of comfort and solace for 
veterans to share their stories and heal their wounds.
  Those who knew Mr. Cantu described three principles that best defined 
him: his legendary work ethic, his optimistic nature, and his love for 
his fellow veterans.
  We honor him today. We remember him today. Sergeant Juan Eric Cantu 
was a humble servant, community leader, and remarkable human.
  May he rest in peace and may God bless his family and friends.


                            Medicare Fee Cut

  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the proposed 
3.37 percent Medicare fee cut. When a physician sees a Medicare 
patient, they do so out of the goodness of their heart. They care for 
the patient. It doesn't make financial sense.
  When you see a Medicare or Medicaid patient, you actually lose money. 
It

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costs more to see patients than you are getting for the cost of care.
  When I ran a private practice, I stayed up many, many nights, 
Saturday nights, trying to find out how to squeeze out money--to find 
each paper clip, make sure that we knew where the staplers were--just 
to make sure that we made payroll and that we paid the light bill.
  Oftentimes I did not take a salary when we could not do that, but 
that was private practice. We were our own destiny. We knew how to take 
care of patients. We had an ownership in patients.
  When adjusted for inflation over the last 20 years, the Medicare fee 
schedule for physicians has been cut by 20 percent.
  What other profession expects to be cut year after year rather than 
receive raises, especially during this inflationary period?
  One of ObamaCare's directives was to starve private practice, to 
force them, to drive them into employment. My former practice is 
employed now by a hospital. They have done well, but this is an 
entirely different tenet with patient care.
  Physicians are being cut every year in their pay. Hospitals, albeit 
smaller, get raises every year.

                              {time}  1045

  While this still may not be much to carry the cost of care in these 
hospitals, but why are the people who are providing care to the 
patients the ones who are being cut?
  Why is this a bad model?
  It is because I think employed physicians tend to be a different bird 
from private practice physicians. They tend to be more working on the 
clock, they tend to decrease efficiency, and they actually increase the 
cost of care.
  There is much more ownership with private practice physicians. When a 
private practice physician comes into a community, they establish 
roots, and they become part of the community. They join churches, and 
they join civic groups.
  Unfortunately, the employed physician model as we see it now is much 
more transitory. There is a contract, and if that doesn't work out, 
then they move in 3 years. Then patients are left in the lurch. My 
doctor--it is always my doctor--took care of me for 20 years. That is 
starting to stop; that is ceasing.
  The Medicare fee schedule cuts must stop. This is why I introduced 
H.R. 6683, the Preserving Seniors' Access to Physicians Act. The 
legislation stops this year's cut while we work on a permanent 
solution.
  Mr. Speaker, this is one of the reasons I came to Congress: to fix 
Medicare. We are experiencing a critical doctor shortage now, but it is 
going to be off the cliff in 3 to 5 years, especially with surgeons.
  No other profession, as I just said, expects to be cut every year 
rather than get raises. Every day now we add 10,000 new patients to 
Medicare. Imagine a hardware store, Mr. Speaker, where you bought a 
hammer for a dollar, and you were paid 60 cents. It doesn't make sense.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support the bill.

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