Medicare, Medicaid, and Schip Extension Act of 2007

MEDICARE, MEDICAID, AND SCHIP EXTENSION ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - December 19, 2007)

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Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, today we're considering a bill that does some important things. One, it stops the 2008 physician cuts. Two, it extends the Children's Health Insurance Program past the politics of the Presidential election; and three, it helps physicians who are called up for active duty to serve their country. But in reality, this isn't the best bill Congress could have put together, and y'all need to know that.

For the first time, physicians don't know what Medicare will pay them next year. In 6 short months, doctors will once again be facing more than a 10 percent cut in their reimbursements. That uncertainty is no help when you're trying to run a business.

When it comes to physicians who are called up to serve their country and their community, this bill does deliver temporary relief.

Earlier this year Congress moved in a bipartisan fashion to temporarily fix an oversight in Medicare. Previously, the law created a red tape nightmare for any Medicare physician who needed to leave his practice for more than 60 days at a time. The bill before us today continues this fix for just 6 months by allowing our Reservists to have one substitute doctor for their entire deployment.

I look forward to working with my colleagues next year on a permanent fix for this problem. We need to support our troops and the docs that are called up.

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