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Rep. Jan Schakowsky Statement on the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate Bill


Washington, D.C. –(ENEWSPF)—March 26, 2015. I am a long-time supporter of efforts to prevent harmful Medicare physician cuts by eliminating the inaccurate Sustainable Growth Rate formula.  I have repeatedly cosponsored and voted for legislation to prevent those cuts. In 2007, 2009 and 2010, with my support, the House voted to fully repeal the SGR.  Unfortunately, I could not support H.R. 2 today for three key reasons.

First, I strongly oppose the Republican majority’s insistence that we pay for the “doc fix” by increasing costs to seniors and persons with disabilities on Medicare.  Higher costs will add to the already high financial burden of paying for medical care and result in delays in getting necessary services.  Instead of asking individuals to pay more, we could have asked the highly-profitable pharmaceutical industry to contribute their fair share.  I joined Congressmen Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva in proposing this to Republican Speaker John Boehner, but the Speaker rejected that approach.

Second, I vigorously oppose the Republican majority’s insistence that we include a “Hyde” provision in the bill – restricting the ability of women to get access to safe and legal abortions.   The Hyde language discriminates against women – imposing the views of politicians on women who should be free to make their personal decisions.  I believe we need to get rid of the Hyde restrictions altogether, and, as a proud member of the Pro-Choice Caucus, I reject the idea that those restrictions should have any place in this bill.

Finally, I believe that we could have done more in this bill to protect seniors, people with disabilities and children.   H.R. 2 provides an important permanent extension of the Medicaid Qualified Individual (QI) program, but I join with organizations like the Medicare Rights Center and Center for Medicare Advocacy in the view that we should not just extend but improve those protections to cover individuals with incomes above 135 percent of the federal poverty level (which is about $15,900 a year today) and relax onerous assets limits that prevent many from receiving the assistance they need.

I am glad that this bill also extends funding for important programs that would otherwise expire, including provisions to help community health centers, teach medical professionals, and continue the Children’s Health Insurance Program.  I wish that we could have extended those programs beyond two years, and I am hopeful that the Senate will move to extend CHIP by four years.

Source: Schakowsky.house.gov


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