Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) issued the following statement as Democrats in charge allowed a 21% reimbursement cut to take effect today for physicians providing care to Medicare and TRICARE patients.

“Democrats in power in Congress are treating elderly and military patients and their physicians with reckless disregard by allowing this draconian reimbursement cut to take effect,” said Congressman Price. “The deeply flawed Medicare reimbursement formula already doesn’t cover the cost of treating these patients for many medical practices. Cutting reimbursements even further will regrettably force innumerable physicians to stop seeing Medicare and TRICARE patients altogether. You’d be hard pressed to find a more effective method for Washington to take away Americans’ access to health care.

“Today marks the second time this year that Democrats have played chicken with seniors’ and military families’ health care. Reckless politicians have used this issue as a cynical bargaining chip for far too long. It’s time to enact a permanent fix to this flawed reimbursement formula that does not add to Washington’s already unsustainable deficits.

“This 21 percent reimbursement cut also highlights the sheer folly of the Democrats’ health care plan. If Congress acts to rescind these cuts, it will add hundreds of billions of dollars to the cost of their health care takeover. If the cuts remain in effect, the Democrats will be responsible for leaving millions of seniors and military families without access to a physician.

“All the more frustrating is that Americans know there are positive solutions that embrace fundamental principles that would accelerate quality health care instead of destroying the very foundation of trust in medicine.”

Note: The Republican Study Committee has presented a fully paid for, permanent fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula in H.R. 3400, the Empowering Patients First Act. This bill provides proper reimbursement for physicians and keeps control of the system in the hands of patients and their doctors, without adding to the deficit.