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Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 - Continued

Floor Speech

Date: June 24, 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Senior Citizens Entitlements and the Safety Net Health Insurance


MEDICARE IMPROVEMENTS FOR PATIENTS AND PROVIDERS ACT OF 2008--Continued -- (House of Representatives - June 24, 2008)

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Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, when it comes to health care reform, my colleagues on the other side say the most important priority is the relationship between a patient and a doctor. Why isn't that true for seniors?

Today, our Republican friends are once again confronted with a simple choice: Stand with seniors and their physicians, or stand with the big insurance companies and tax cheats.

Seniors on Medicare are at risk of losing access to the doctor they know and trust. We have a plan to ensure that doesn't happen, and strengthen Medicare while doing it. Our plan stops overpayments to big insurance companies. We tell providers that owe billions in taxes that they cannot continue to cheat the taxpayers and go unpunished.

I know some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle oppose this bill. Under their plan, seniors would go without care, tax cheats go unpunished, and insurance companies go to the bank. That is a tough argument to make here in Congress, and it is an even tougher argument to make to the American people.

I hope my Republican colleagues reconsider and lend their support to this legislation, which continues the relationship between seniors and their physician of choice.

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