#shorts Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said, “So, I’ve introduced a bill, Mr. President. The name of my bill was, per the Protecting Medicare Patients and Physicians Act. It would have eliminated that four to four and a half percent cut that President Biden wanted to impose on Medicare doctors. And I came to the body of this Senate to present that bill, and I didn’t come to my colleagues just with a problem. I came with a solution. I’m not suggesting fill the hole by borrowing the money. I said I’ve got a solution. I found 9.8 billion dollars sitting in a fund at the Department of Health and Human Services. It was called the Provider Relief Fund. This Congress appropriates lots of money to our health care providers to help them deal with with COVID, and not all of the money, thankfully, was needed. Many of the health care providers returned some of the money. And at the time I presented the bill, there was 9.8 billion dollars that had been returned”
On 2/16/2023, Kennedy spoke on the Senate floor refuting Pres. Biden and Democrats’ claims that Republicans wish to cut Medicare and entitlements. Kennedy’s speech comes after Biden’s repeated comments falsely accused congressional Republicans of aiming to cut Medicare. In December 2022, Kennedy attempted to pass his Protecting Medicare Patients and Physicians Act through the Senate by unanimous consent. The bill would have protected patients and health care providers from a total of 8.5 percent in planned Medicare cuts to physician reimbursements, but Democrats immediately blocked the bill. The bill would have required no new federal spending, but, instead, would have employed unused Covid money from the Provider Relief Fund that had been returned to the Department of Health and Human Services. Using those leftover funds to help patients and doctors who are suffering under the Biden administration’s historic levels of inflation would have represented a fiscally responsible solution to help vulnerable Americans.
Each year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services establishes a Physician Fee Schedule, which sets out how much a doctor gets paid for a particular service rendered. Kennedy’s legislation would have protected patients and health care providers from a total of 4.5 percent in planned Medicare cuts to physician reimbursements.
other clips of this published longer video is here: https://youtu.be/IHoPJFQ_07o
Kennedy: I found $9.8B sitting in HHS to avoid Biden’s 4.5% Medicare cut