Texas Border Business
“Today, we begin a massive grassroots campaign for Texas physicians to demand that Congress pass this bill”
By Austin I. King, MD
“On behalf of our 48,000-plus physician and medical student members — and the patients we serve — the Texas Medical Association strongly endorses HR 1470, the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2015, to repeal and replace Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula.
“The SGR has never worked to hold down Medicare costs. It has only served to anger and frustrate physicians and scare our patients. That’s why doing away with the SGR has been at the top of our congressional agenda for more than a decade.
“We applaud Reps. Michael Burgess, MD (R-Lewisville), Kevin Brady (R-The Woodlands), Gene Green (D-Houston), and their Republican and Democratic partners in both the House and the Senate for their hard work in crafting this bill over the past two years.
“Today, we begin a massive grassroots campaign for Texas physicians to demand that Congress pass this bill — and that President Obama sign it — before the 22.4-percent Medicare cut kicks in on April 1.
“Physicians are tired of the never-ending uncertainty; the never-ending threats to cut Medicare pay; the never-ending need to lobby Congress on the same, never-ending problem. Our patients are tired of the never-ending fear of losing their doctor. Eighteen years and 17 patches is enough.”
Austin I. King MD of Abilene is the President of the Texas Medical Association (TMA). This article is in response to the introduction of a bill to repeal the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula.
