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Charleston, SC- Today, Congressman Henry E. Brown, Jr. (R-SC) held a health care roundtable at Trident Hospital with several First District physicians and other health officials to discuss the health care proposals that have been offered in DC and to hear their concerns with this legislation and the negative effects that it may have on the health care profession as a whole. During the meeting, Congressman Brown made the following remarks:
“Simply maintaining the status quo of health care is not sustainable over the long-haul. However, I feel that there are many problems with the reforms currently proposed in the House version of the health bill, H.R. 3200, and many have been motivated to come out strongly against the bill at recent town halls.
For hospitals and physicians, I know that one of the most important issues is the reimbursement rate of a new public plan. At a time when many doctors can no longer see Medicare patients if they want to stay afloat, and hospitals are forced to take losses because of Medicare reimbursement rates, how will costs be absorbed when more than forty million people are added to the government’s health care rolls?
Unfortunately, those who have written the bill, and who are in a position to fix the reimbursement problem, have decided to link reimbursement rates to Medicare, which, according to the Congressional Budget Office, pays doctors and hospitals twenty and thirty percent less than health plans respectively.
Additionally, I believe that any true health care overhaul must include tort reform. Frivolous lawsuits cause doctors to practice defensive medicine and order otherwise unnecessary tests. Malpractice insurance costs rise and must be covered by increased fees. We must reduce these unnecessary costs and protect our doctors by blocking often frivolous and career ending lawsuits.
It's for these reasons, and a long list of others, that I continue to strongly oppose the creation of a government run plan and the Democratic health care legislation before the House. Thank you for listening and thank you for spending your valuable time here with me today.”
In addition to attending the health care round table at Trident, Congressman Brown joined Senator Jim DeMint this morning at The Daniel Island Club to talk with many of his constituents from the Charleston area about health care reform and to hear opinions from both sides of the issue.
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