{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2012-12-31-pt1-PgH7472-2", "2012-12-31", 112, 2, null, null, "THE SGR NEEDS TO BE PATCHED NOW", "HOUSE", "HOUSE", "ALLOTHER", "H7472", "H7473", "[{\"name\": \"Tom Price\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "158 Cong. Rec. H7472", "Congressional Record, Volume 158 Issue 171 (Monday, December 31, 2012)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 171 (Monday, December 31, 2012)]\n[House]\n[Pages H7472-H7473]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                    THE SGR NEEDS TO BE PATCHED NOW\n\n  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from\nGeorgia (Mr. Price) for 5 minutes.\n  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, in the late 1990s, Congress came\nup with a new formula to determine how much to pay doctors for taking\ncare of seniors in the Medicare program. It's called the ``sustainable\ngrowth rate,'' or the SGR. And like so many Washington solutions, it\ndoesn't work.\n  Before coming to Congress, I was a doctor. I took care of patients\nfor over 20 years. I remember thinking at the time that the SGR program\nwas put into place, Well, that won't work. It's a house of cards. It's\ndestined to fail.\n  Mr. Speaker, here we are. America's seniors are on the verge of\nlosing access to health care. Let me repeat that, Mr. Speaker.\nAmerica's seniors are on the verge of losing access to health care.\nHow? If Congress and President Obama don't act by January 1, tomorrow,\nMedicare payments to physicians will be reduced, will be cut by nearly\n27 percent. You see, Mr. Speaker, the fiscal cliff is more than just\nthe tax increases that President Obama so dearly wants.\n  The effect of the SGR formula means that physicians who treat\nMedicare patients will be forced to limit the number of seniors that\nthey see, fewer patients being seen, doctors forced not to see patients\nbecause of foolish Washington policy. This jeopardizes health care for\nmillions of folks. The sustainable growth rate, the formula used by\nMedicare to determine physician reimbursement, needs to be repealed. It\ndoesn't work for patients, and it doesn't work for doctors. It's\ndestructive to the very principles that we hold dear about health care.\nIt violates accessibility, it violates quality, and it limits choices.\nIt harms real people.\n  There are positive solutions that we're working on so that we may\nresponsibly reform this broken system. But while we work to put in\nplace a system that actually does make sense, we must provide certainty\nfor patients and their doctors for the new year.\n  Mr. Speaker, slashing payments to doctors is a terrible idea, and it\nmust be stopped. The SGR needs to be patched now so that seniors may\ncontinue to see their doctors, and then we\n\n[[Page H7473]]\n\nshould move forward with real solutions that work for real people, not\njust for Washington bureaucrats.\n  The sad thing about our current dysfunction in this town is that\npeople all across this country get harmed. It's not because of\nsomething that they did, but because of something that government did\nto them or forced them to do. It's time to let Americans be Americans,\nand in health care that means caring for each other and allowing\npatients and families and doctors to make medical decisions, not\nWashington.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2012-12-31-pt1-PgH7472-2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 56.1735809314996, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}