House Votes Overwhelmingly to Permanently Repeal the SGR and Strengthen Medicare

Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ-07), member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, today applauded passage of H.R. 2, the "Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act" -- bipartisan legislation that will repeal Medicare's flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) and replace it with new permanent system that will provide better health care for senior citizens and real savings for taxpayers. H.R. 2 passed the House by a vote of 392 to 37.

"Today the U.S. House has come together to protect senior citizen's access to their doctors and strengthen the Medicare program over the longer term," said Lance, who as a member of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee helped steer the legislation through the House. "This package includes reforms that will not only produce important cost-savings today but will also put Medicare on a more sustainable fiscal path. The agreement gives physicians the certainty of a stable payment system and it benefits kids too as it extends the Children's Health Insurance Program for two years. This is a major legislative accomplishment and I look forward to the Senate's quick consideration of these long-overdue reforms."

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