Under Medicare right now, I get paid to put a pacemaker in you, but I don't get paid to counsel you about end-of-life care.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I've never been paid as a prognosticator. I don't get a lot of work as a mentalist.
My doctor gave me six months to live, but when I couldn't pay the bill he gave me six months more.
You know, for most seniors Medicare is their only form of health care.
Doctors cannot afford to provide care at the rate of reimbursement that Medicare insists that they accept.
I'm on Medicare now. If I go and have a big operation, it costs me nothing. It should cost me a little. I'm not rich, but I can afford a few grand if I have to have my appendix taken out. I can pitch in a little bit.
Yeah, it's nice to get paid for therapy rather than having to pay $240 an hour for it.
I've written and passed laws to give Medicare beneficiaries access to life saving cancer drugs and to ensure that seniors don't have to give up the prospect of a cure when they go into hospice care.
When you start talking about the patients' bill of rights and all the benefits that are in there, people agree with all that. What they don't know is how are you going to pay for it.
The sort of thinking at the time was, 'Well, we're giving you access to medical care which you wouldn't otherwise be able to get, so your payment is that we get to use you in research.'
I'm too young for Medicare and too old for women to care.