Reforming Medicare Payments Helps Ensure Access to Better Care
By Senator John Thune

Thousands of South Dakotans, including my own father back in my hometown of Murdo, depend on Medicare to help with the cost of their health care. Since 1997, beneficiaries’ access to quality care has been threatened due to Medicare’s use of a flawed physician reimbursement formula known as the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). The formula was implemented to help curb the increasing costs associated with the Medicare program. Unfortunately, rather than helping to rein in costs, the caps associated with the SGR would have made large payment cuts to Medicare physicians, providing a disincentive for doctors to accept Medicare patients. Since then, Congress has been kicking the can down the road, patching this defective payment system 17 times.

Congress recognized how important it is to provide certainty to Medicare beneficiaries and physicians, which is why on April 14, the Senate approved the bipartisan Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act. This legislation repeals the flawed SGR formula and modernizes Medicare payments to incentivize high-quality, low-cost care for seniors.

I am pleased that Medicare payment modernization included a provision I championed that gives rural providers sufficient technical assistance to ensure they are able to effectively transition into new payment models. Additionally, I am pleased that the bill included provisions that I helped spearhead that would improve access to durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies through Medicare. These are just a few of the many reforms included in the bill that are vital to ensuring that South Dakota seniors continue receiving high quality, affordable health care.

Not only do our seniors deserve access to quality and efficient health care, but our physicians should be paid for the quality of care they provide, not the volume of services they provide. I will continue working to strengthen Medicare to ensure beneficiaries receive the best care possible, while improving access to care in rural communities. There is more work to be done to protect and preserve this important program, but the passage of the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act was an important first step to ensure we make needed reforms that will continue putting South Dakota seniors first.

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My First 100 Days
By Senator Mike Rounds
April 17, 2014

My first 100 days working as a U.S. Senator have been full of activity. When the people of South Dakota elected me to the Senate, I made them a promise to help get things working in Washington again. For too long, our federal government has been mired in dysfunction and lack of accountability. The new Republican majority in Congress has been working hard to get government back on track. Already, we have made significant progress.

In the senate, we have passed many important bipartisan bills, including veterans’ suicide prevention legislation, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), a bill authorizing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, and most recently, a bill that will strengthen Medicare for patients and their providers. We have opened up the amendment process on the Senate floor, allowing for full, robust debate on every issue. In the three and a half months since taking office, we have held roughly seven times as many amendment roll call votes as were conducted all of last year under Democrat leadership. Our goal is to make the Senate work as it was intended, with an open legislative process to help end the gridlock that has defined Washington for far too long.

The new Republican majority also passed a budget this year— something that rarely happened under previous leadership. Additionally, our budget balances in 10 years, something that neither the President nor previous leaderships’ budgets accomplished. Our budget plan offers a responsible path forward to corral our fiscal problems and reflects a number of my top priorities: growing our economy so folks have more take-home pay each month, creating new jobs, repealing Obamacare, funding our military at proper levels and reining in our national debt. We will now have twelve opportunities in twelve different appropriations bills in which we can impact how money at the federal level is being spent, making sure it is spent responsibly and that middle class Americans are protected from burdensome taxes and regulations.

My offices in South Dakota have been busy during our first 100 days as well. They serve as my eyes and ears while I am in Washington, talking to constituents and helping them with their federal government-related issues. We have helped dozens of South Dakotans by expediting delayed passports in critical moments and helped veterans obtain overdue benefits they have been promised. We can step in when people are having problems with any federal government agency, acting as a liaison for the constituent. The ability to make a real difference in the lives of individual South Dakotans is one of the best parts of serving in the Senate.

The American people deserve a government that is effective, efficient and accountable. Government ought to be working for the people, not against them. When I was elected to the Senate, I made a promise to the people of South Dakota that I would help get government working again. I remain as committed as ever to fulfilling that promise. It won’t get done overnight, but if these first 100 days are any indication, we are on the right path.

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