[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 7271-7272]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Tipton) for 5 minutes.

[[Page 7272]]


  Mr. TIPTON. Mr. Speaker, there are probably very few issues that 
touch Americans, families, our States, and small businesses more 
personally than health care.
  This House has dealt numerous times with addressing the Affordable 
Care Act. But when we talk about it on that very personal level--of a 
mom taking a sick child down to visit the doctor, to a senior citizen 
who's counting on that hospital being able to be there, to be able to 
deliver the care that they need--we need to recognize that the 
overarching view that Washington typically performs when passing a bill 
and delivering it to the American people, that it has very real 
consequences, very real impacts.
  In my district in rural Colorado--and in fact throughout rural 
America--there is a looming health care crisis that is just on the 
horizon. That ability to be able to go to the doctor, to be able to 
have a hospital that's going to be there to be able to provide the 
service that's necessary--they're feeling that real impact right now at 
home.
  We've had a lot of discussion about that big, overarching bill: the 
IPAB boards that are going to be making the medical choices for our 
senior citizens--indeed for all Americans--rather than that choice 
being made between the doctor and the patient; about the State mandates 
that are coming through; the Medicare payment cuts; higher health 
costs; the budget that is now going to be estimated at $1.76 trillion 
in costs over a 10-year period, and rising, on a struggling American 
economy, on struggling families and small businesses; the 150 new 
boards that are being established; the better than 12,000 pages of new 
regulations that our hospitals, our doctors, and our families are going 
to have to be dealing with; and the short form, to simply be able to 
fill out and be able to apply for the Affordable Care Act, 21 pages 
just to be able to get insurance.
  We need, Mr. Speaker, to be talking about those real impacts, not 
from the 30,000-foot view, but on the ground at home.
  I recently went to Delta Memorial Hospital in my district, a small 
community hospital that's proud of their service. In fact, they've had 
multiple surveys that went through and rated their service among the 
best. They are now being challenged by the Affordable Care Act in terms 
of that health care delivery.
  They have a program called the Recovery Audit Contracts conducted by 
individual companies that don't even have to have health care 
background, but they're going back in and reassessing costs. And 
they're having to pay back money now, money that they simply do not 
have.
  We're seeing reimbursements to doctors drop at Delta Memorial 
Hospital, making it harder for the physicians to be able to deliver 
that service.
  These are small hospitals. They don't have big HR departments; 
they're there for the health of the community. But they are seeing real 
challenges in being able to continue. In fact, in many of our rural 
hospitals, they're beginning to wonder if they're going to be able to 
continue to deliver that service.

                              {time}  1040

  I've talked to doctors in Delta, Montrose, Grand Junction, Pueblo, 
throughout my entire district, who are frustrated that they are now 
seeing their reimbursements--money that they need to have to be able to 
conduct their business--being cut by the Federal Government, the 
Federal Government determining what the value of that service is going 
to be and saying you can afford it. That's not real life.
  What we are seeing now are senior citizens who just became senior 
citizens by the virtue of a birthday over the last few months, they 
cannot find a doctor who is willing to take Medicare, simply because 
they can no longer afford it.
  We have a system, Mr. Speaker, that completely forgot the original 
premise that every American, I believe, can agree on. We need to have 
real reform, but we need to go back to that initial premise of 
affordability and accessibility. The Affordable Care Act fails on both 
levels.
  We are seeing right now, in my home State of Colorado, estimates for 
individual insurance policies this year are going to go up an estimated 
23 percent or more. Small businesses, who are trying to provide group 
insurance, are seeing their costs going up this year estimated better 
than 17 percent.
  Have we achieved more affordability, as was promised? We have not.
  When we are talking about that accessibility issue, when that senior 
citizen in Delta, Colorado, walks into a doctor's office and is told 
that they aren't accepting any new patients, are we achieving that 
accessibility? We are not.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to go back to that original premise, because so 
many small businesses right now that would like to be able to deliver 
that service are feeling the impact. I have a friend who owns several 
small Pizza Huts throughout the West, and she is dealing with those 
additional costs that are hurting her business and her ability to be 
able to deliver that real service for her employees.
  We have a challenge in this country, Mr. Speaker, and it can and will 
be addressed if we will go back to that original premise of 
affordability and accessibility. The Affordable Care Act fails on both 
points.
  Let's roll up our sleeves and get the job done for the American 
people.

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