00:00Well, thank you very much, and thank you, Mr. Schweikert, as well.
00:03I am very pleased that these committees are finally addressing some genuine waste, fraud, and abuse.
00:10Early in the reconciliation process, I led several colleagues in urging the Republican leadership
00:15to focus on waste in the Medicare Advantage program rather than cutting coverage.
00:20While that request was unanswered, today we have an opportunity to start paving a new bipartisan path
00:26toward fiscal responsibility, a path that protects both taxpayers' hard-earned dollars and their access to care.
00:34Medicare Advantage was sold as a program to save taxpayer dollars and improve the quality of care,
00:39but I found that it is largely a disadvantage, never saving taxpayers a penny
00:44and vastly outspending traditional Medicare.
00:47While some of us have differing views concerning M.A. and its position in the future of health care
00:54for seniors and individuals with disabilities, I know we are all concerned with wasteful overpayments
01:01and assuring the long-term promise of Medicare for future generations.
01:05The nonpartisan Independent Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MEDPAC,
01:10estimates that taxpayers will spend 20 percent more this year for people in Medicare Advantage
01:15than if they had been enrolled in traditional Medicare.
01:18That amounts to $84 billion this year alone.
01:21And these funds don't just impact Medicare's long-term finances.
01:26Every single enrollee is paying an average of $198 more in Part B premiums this year
01:33because of overpayments to M.A. insurers.
01:37What are consumers getting for all this money?
01:40Well, outrageously, many are just facing care delays and denials,
01:44fewer and fewer provider options, and poor consumer service.
01:48For providers, M.A. is becoming more trouble than it's worth.
01:53An Austin surgeon, Dr. Elizabeth Potter, was pulled out of surgery to talk to United Health Care
01:58representatives about an authorization she had already received for the procedure she was in the middle of performing.
02:05When she fought back, United sought to discredit her and is denying coverage for her surgery center,
02:11driving her into debt as she turns to a GoFundMe page to keep her practice afloat.
02:16Stories like hers are why I've urged the Justice Department to expand the investigation into United
02:22to closely examine every allegation of fraud, waste, and abuse,
02:27including reported denials of necessary hospitalizations.
02:31For years, I've heard from hospitals, home health care providers,
02:34and other professionals who are experiencing increasing administrative burdens, delays in reimbursement,
02:42and smaller payments that are falling below what traditional Medicare would have paid.
02:47Together with my colleague, Dr. Murphy, we've authored the Prompt and Fair Pay Act,
02:53bipartisan legislation that we filed this week to ensure M.A. plans at least pay what traditional Medicare pays
03:00for covered items and services.
03:02Our bill also establishes prompt payment requirements modeled after the requirements in Part D.
03:08It has been endorsed by the National Rural Health Association, Leading Age, America's Essential Hospitals,
03:15the American Academy of Family Position, the American College of Physicians, and a number of others.
03:21Last month, we also filed bipartisan legislation in which Chairman Schweikert participated to address an outrageous loophole
03:30that permits Medicare Advantage plans to receive premiums and capitated payments from duly eligible veterans
03:37who receive most or sometimes all of their care through the VA.
03:42Researchers have estimated that this loophole will cost the VA over $350 billion over the next decade,
03:49as taxpayers really are paying for care twice, once to the M.A. insurer who pockets the money,
03:56and a second time to the VA, which actually delivers the care that it is wrongly prohibited
04:01from recouping its costs from the insurer.
04:04We've authored the bipartisan Guard Veterans Health Care Act to stop this waste
04:08and ensure the VA can bill M.A. for veterans' care in the same way that they do other commercial insurers.
04:14Our bill is widely supported by the Veterans for Foreign Wars, the Medicare consumer groups,
04:20and a number of unions that serve veterans.
04:22I appreciate the support of Dr. Murphy and Chairman Schweikert in these measures,
04:26and I know they remain committed to additional bipartisan work to end waste and abuse in this program,
04:33to ensure a sustainable program for future generations,
04:36to stabilize provider payments,
04:38and improve the delivery of health care for all Medicare enrollees.
04:42I hope that this hearing will be swiftly followed by a markup on our legislation
04:47and other urgent items to take some of the disadvantage out of Medicare Advantage.
04:52Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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