WASHINGTON, DC – Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (TX-8) spoke to a breakfast meeting of The Ripon Society Thursday morning, delivering a speech in which he discussed the importance of overhauling the Sustainable Growth Rate for Medicare physicians, and why a new Medicare model will provide for increased quality care to seniors at reduced costs to taxpayers.
“Finding a permanent solution to SGR is not an easy job after a decade or so,” the Texas lawmaker stated. “We have to find a solution that is not only supported by Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate, but by over 600 physician groups around the country and do it in a way that we can actually afford it.”
With an April 1st deadline looming that would see Medicare payments for providers drastically slashed by approximately 21 percent, lawmakers continue to iron out last minute details that would save nearly $150 billion spent in past makeshift “doc fixes” and provide more long term certainty for physicians and patients alike. Among those spearheading the debate is Chairman Brady, a longtime veteran of the Ways and Means Committee charged with helping to chart a bipartisan solution to replace the 17 temporary patches that have plagued the system over the last 12 years. In his remarks, he discussed a proposed plan that would offer three key reforms to the current model.
“We are moving a three-step process over the next decade,” he explained. “In the first four years, we are calling a timeout on the drama, stabilizing reimbursements, and trying to stop doctors from re-thinking their relationships with Medicare. In Texas, less than half of all of the family physicians will see new Medicare patients. That’s not unusual around this country. Our doctors have gone over the last decade from being irritated to frustrated to angry. And now they’re acting. They are re-thinking their relationship, they’re closing private practices and they’re lining up with hospitals and institutions. So, if we want to solve this problem, we’ve got to reform the way we pay. The first step is to call a timeout on all of the drama and move toward a system that reimburses not just on procedures, but on quality. And not on the quality as Washington sees it, but on the quality that our physicians are practicing.”
“What we hope to do is go from stability to quality to reimbursing both on quality and efficiency. That’s a harder target to hit — better healthcare at a lower price. Twenty-five percent of the physicians today couldn’t do all of that because they are in the models and the systems. But we have to do this in a way where a sole practitioner in West Texas can also move toward those same things. You find the time to do that in this process of the SGR replacement. It isn’t a perfect bill, but it changes the discussion away from ‘how do we stop the cuts this year’ to ‘how do we improve Medicare, improve how physicians deliver it, and change the whole foundation of the system.’”
Brady also discussed how House leadership has taken a close look at structural reforms to Medigap and what a timeline of the bill looks like going forward.
“We have to repeal the SGR and replace it,” the Chairman declared. “There’s a cost to it, but I’m cautiously optimistic about where we’re headed over the next week. The Speaker, to his huge credit, found some space with former Speaker Pelosi to not only pass that new approach on how we reimburse doctors, but also find some structural reformsthat we have not been able to connect with the Senate on. The new spending is paid for, and structural reforms in Medigap are done in a way so it kicks in in 2020 with new Medicare patients. It’s really important to tie it in with to how we combine Part A and B, which is what we hope to do to make it a smarter and less-confusing way of delivering Medicare.
“The way we do it today is the equivalent of a senior buying four insurance plans for your car: one for the outside of your car, another insurance plan for the inside, a third one for the engine, and a fourth for the music system or the tires or something else that is very confusing. We think there’s a smarter, more collaborative and simple way for our seniors to buy Medicare, so we’re working hard on that. Medigap reform is important and ties in with that. Means testing is a big leap for some, but the savings grow overtime. We think these are very important structural reforms. We see in this package really key things; reforms in how we reimburse our doctors that are so critical; the structural reforms in Medicare. Maybe the most important for many of us, we know we have to make changes to save Medicare for the long-term. But we can’t do that until we solve how we pay our doctors.
“This is going to be a long runway in saving Medicare for the long term. We’ve got designs for the plane, but we know it’s going to take a while to build the plane, build the public momentum and support, and move it through Congress. But to start down that runway, we have to drag SGR off of it. That is one of the biggest motivations going for it, but a lot can happen between now and next Thursday. We assume the text will be ready to go on Friday and we’re hopeful the Rules Committee will take it up on Monday or Tuesday. Then we’ll be ready to go by the end of next week.
“I think we’re closer than I’ve ever been in getting this done and we’re working votes on both sides of the aisle. We’re hopeful we can get both of these things done. The alternative is at least two more years of patches, and two more years of uncertainty. Every dollar we pay on a patch isn’t actually used to solve the problem. We waste those dollars in my view, so it’s really critical we get this done now. It’s not a perfect package – none of these things are. But those three critical reforms will work to move this package forward.”
To view the complete remarks of Chairman Brady before The Ripon Society’s breakfast discussion Thursday morning, please click on the link below:
The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 – Ripon, Wisconsin. One of the main goals of The Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made America great and contributed to the GOP’s success. These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.