A top-ranking GOP lawmaker is calling on Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman to convene a public hearing with key administration officials on Wednesday before the House votes on the healthcare bill.
Ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas) wrote, in a letter to his counterpart, that it was imperative that lawmakers question Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf as to the implications of the bill.
“The new legislation, H.R. 3962, creates a government-run health plan where the Secretary of HHS would be permitted to negotiate rates with providers. However, it seems clear from the legislative language of H.R. 3962 that doctors could, and most likely would, be paid a base rate at Medicare levels and the HHS Secretary would be authorized to pay providers less than the Medicare rate,” Barton wrote in the letter to Waxman.
SOURCE: The Hill
