[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10401]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              AFFORDABLE CARE ACT DESTROYS PATIENT ACCESS

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to bring your attention to the 
front page of USA Today. The story is titled, ``Medicaid Payments Go 
Under the Knife.'' This is an issue that, unfortunately, is going to 
continue to get worse. Medicaid isn't just going under the knife; it's 
being slashed.
  The simple truth is that Medicaid has become a coverage without 
access and only an empty promise for the people who arguably may 
legitimately need its services. And the Affordable Care Act is only 
going to exacerbate the problem with patient access to physicians. The 
new health care law has changed what was a program that was designed 
for the poorest of the poor, pregnant women, children, and the elderly, 
and turned it into a one-size-fits-all government program. States will 
add 16 million new people to the program, millions of younger adults, 
putting an even greater strain on the State budgets.
  The health care law never addressed the root problem. We need to 
ensure that Medicaid spending is directed in a fashion that provides an 
actual safety net for those in need and allows States to create a range 
of products to give Medicaid patients access to their physicians and 
better care. We actually need to get back to the basics. And it is 
essential that we examine Medicaid and realize the ramifications before 
our States sink even deeper into a budgetary crisis.

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