Press Release

Congressman Ami Bera M.D. voted today in favor of the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014. After months of unprecedented bipartisan, bicameral work in Congress to reach an unprecedented bipartisan solution, House leadership this week tied a hyper-partisan amendment to the bill. Bera made the following comment:

“As a doctor, I know firsthand how critical strengthening Medicare is for our seniors, and I’m profoundly disappointed that instead of doing the right thing, Congressional leaders played politics with seniors’ health care today. By tying an extremely partisan amendment to this important bill, they’ve made it unlikely to ever be signed into law. We must honor the promises we have made to our seniors so they can get the health care they deserve after a lifetime of hard work. That’s why I voted today to fix a system that has been broken for more than a decade and to give doctors the ability to continue to care for Medicare patients.”

Over time, Congress has spent a staggering $153.7 billion to shore up the ailing system, all while the gap between what Medicare pays and the actual cost of caring for patients has grown ever wider. Today, Medicare payments to physicians are falling 25 percent below the rate of practice cost inflation. In the meantime, one out of every four Medicare patients is struggling to find a primary care physician.

Congressman Ami Bera, M.D. represents Sacramento County. Born and raised in California, Bera is a physician and the only Indian American currently serving in Congress. He’s fighting to rebuild an economy that works for middle class families and to reduce our country’s debt in a responsible way. One of Bera’s first acts in Congress was to help lead the effort to pass the No Budget No Pay Act, which says if members of Congress don’t pass a budget, they don’t get paid. As a leader of the No Labels' Problem Solvers, he’s working with people from both parties to find bipartisan solutions to our nation’s challenges. He and his wife Janine live in Elk Grove with their daughter Sydra. For more updates on Rep. Bera follow@RepBera on Twitter, like Congressman Bera on Facebook, or visit https://www.bera.house.gov.

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