U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz issued the following statement after the joint Senate-House conference committee signed a conference report to extend middle class tax cuts, extend unemployment assistance, and prevent cuts to the Medicare physician payment rate.
"The Conference Committee has reached a bipartisan agreement to provide families, businesses and seniors with stability and avert a manufactured crisis. This agreement ensures 160 million middle-class Americans can keep more of their hard earned dollars, extends benefits for the millions of Americans who are still looking for work, and protects access to doctors for 47 million seniors.
"Throughout this process, I advocated for a permanent, fiscally responsible solution to the failed Medicare physician payment system. Despite bipartisan support for this approach, we were unable to reach a long-term agreement that would have restored fiscal stability in the Medicare program and set us on a path to new payment models to improve quality while reducing costs.
"The 10-month fix contained in this report addresses the immediate goal of averting a 27 percent cut to physicians who treat Medicare beneficiaries, but unfortunately to the detriment of other essential health care providers. This is a win for America's seniors but does not relieve us of our responsibility to them to fix this broken system once and for all.
"We have little time and a lot of work to do to permanently repeal the flawed SGR formula and replace it with a new payment system. I am encouraged by the inclusion of provisions in this report that complement the work of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation by examining best practices for promoting quality and value. I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle over the next 10 months to end this perennial threat to seniors' access to their doctors."