Burgess: Tonight, Congress Missed An Historic Opportunity To Pass The Right Kind Of Health Care Reform
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November 7, 2009
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Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas), Chair of the Congressional Health Care Caucus and a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement today after the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962, Speaker Pelosi’s government takeover of America’s health care system:
“America’s doctors were pretty clear what they needed in health care reform to better serve their patients. They want to see medical liability reform. They desperately need a fix to the payment formula in Medicare. And they wanted the right to be able to talk to each other about negotiating with insurance companies.
“After all, we’re going to ask doctors to be our partners in this brave new world of health care reform, so the least we can do is give them the tools they need. How else can we expect doctors to deliver high-quality care at a lower cost?
“But what happened? Can doctors negotiate with insurance companies and talk about it with other doctors? Not in this bill. Medicare payment reform? Maybe we’ll take that up sometime in the future. Medical liability? A smidgen of medical liability reform in this bill, but nothing compared to what doctors actually need.
“This country needed a 21st Century vision, and we got recycled 20th Century ideas. Tonight, Congress missed an historic opportunity to pass the right kind of health care reform.”
Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D., is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and three of its subcommittees: Health, Energy & Environment, and Oversight & Investigations. He is also a member of the bipartisan, bicameral Joint Economic Committee. Prior to becoming a member of Congress in 2002, Congressman Burgess practiced medicine in North Texas for over 25 years.
