Weekly Republican Address Michael Burgess M.D 11/23/13 FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT PODCAST VIDEO. WASHINGTON, DC – Delivering the Weekly Republican Address, Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX) shares stories from his constituents that show how the reality of the president’s health care law doesn’t match what he promised. Dr. Burgess spent nearly thirty years practicing medicine in North Texas before being elected to the House, where he serves as vice-chair of the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
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FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT
Hello, I’m Dr. Michael Burgess. I spent nearly three decades practicing medicine in North Texas before being elected to the United States House of Representatives.
Here, I serve as vice chair of the House’s top health care oversight committee. Just this week, we held the administration accountable once again for their failed promises to the American people and their misleading statements to Congress.
It has now become clear that the reality of the president’s health care law does not match what he promised:
A website that was launched before it was finished.
Waves of cancellation letters.
The sticker shock of high premiums - coupled with ever-increasing deductibles.
Many families are now learning that they may not just lose their plan. But if they like their doctor, they may lose their doctor too.
They may lose their doctor in part because there is already a shortage of primary care physician. Many of these plans will now be paying doctors less – so many doctors, whose waiting rooms are already full, have chosen not to participate in the new plans.
It’s a trainwreck for doctors, a trainwreck for patients, and most importantly, it's a trainwreck for the American people.
And the trouble is, this is only the beginning.
Every day, the stack of sad stories coming into my office grows ever taller.
Like the letter I received from a small business owner in Frisco, Texas. He says that his premiums are set to rise by 22 percent.
“Basically,” he says, “this law will take down my company and the 125 people that I employ or it will require me to reduce wages … thus hurting the very people who are just trying to make a living.”
I also heard from a woman in Lewisville who said she and her husband got a notice that their deductibles will double and their premiums will go up as well.
“At this point,” she writes, “for us to start a family next year it will cost over 15 percent of our combined household income before we even get covered by insurance to have a child. We need help.”
And consider this experience that a woman in Keller, Texas is having. 14 years ago, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and because of the new law, she is about to lose her coverage.
When trying to sign up for a new plan, she was told she had to have her identity verified. After going through all of the steps to do just that, she never heard back.
When she called a couple weeks later to find out how long it would take, they had no answer.
“This is beyond stressful,” she writes. “Can I continue to see my neurologist? Will I still have access to my medications? It is heart breaking and by far the most broken system I’ve ever seen.”
Isn’t this exactly the kind of confusion and uncertainty that the president promised to fix?
Many Americans are now questioning the White House’s credibility, and rightfully so. They are right to expect the president to admit his mistakes and start giving some clear answers.
As a physician, I know our health care system needs improvement – but this law is already failing. The best thing we can do now is scrap it and start over with a step-by-step approach that focuses on lower costs and patient-centered solutions.
For now though, we will continue to ask the tough questions, and hold this president accountable for his broken promises on this self-inflicted disaster.
May God bless you and your family, may God bless the United States, and thanks for listening.
