Fortenberry Urges Responsible Reform of Medicare Reimbursement Policy for Doctors, Protection of Patients

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Jeff Fortenberry, voting against HR 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act, urged Congress to achieve a responsible, sustainable solution to the financing of physicians’ Medicare reimbursement rates.

“The Medicare reimbursement process is broken,” said Fortenberry.  “It is demeaning to doctors and threatens critical services for patients in vulnerable situations, particularly those in rural areas challenged with accessible health care options.  It is bad policy, and Congress has a responsibility to correct it.

“This bill, unfortunately, is not the right approach.  In fact, the Senate previously rejected a similar measure.  It adds significantly to our national deficit without providing any means of payment. 

“I support an alternative measure to reimburse physicians with a two percent Medicare payment rate increase in each of the next four years.  The annual increases would be paid for by commonsense medical liability reforms.”

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