WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts  said that the administration’s proposed Medicare Part B drug demonstration could disrupt care for some of Medicare’s most vulnerable patients and lead to government rationing of healthcare.

Speaking at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the demonstration, Roberts said, “I remain gravely concerned about how this demonstration, or “test” as the administration calls it, will impact patients’ access to care, particularly in rural areas like Kansas. I would like to reaffirm my request that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) withdraw this proposal.”

“When this committee was debating the Affordable Care Act, I was concerned about several provisions that I believed would decrease individual choice and open the door to government rationing of health care. CMMI was one of those creations and this proposal confirms my fears. We have before us a proposed demonstration that could disrupt care for some of Medicare’s most vulnerable patients.”

Earlier this year, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) proposed changes to how the government pays for prescription drugs under Medicare Part B. The proposal would reduce reimbursements on new medications and could limit access to others that the administration does not deem “high value.” This could result in patients being switched to products that are less effective or have more side effects. Over 300 organizations are asking that this rule be withdrawn. In addition, all Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to CMS in April requesting the agency withdraw this proposal.

In 2014, Roberts spoke on the Senate floor warning of the dangers of the government’s expanded authorities over healthcare as a result of Obamacare. He said, “CMMI gives the government new powers to cut payments to Medicare beneficiaries with the goal to reduce program expenditures. However, the reality is they will reduce patients’ ability to access the care they want and need. All hidden under the cloak of ‘innovation.’”

Senator Roberts has introduced legislation in response to this called the Four Rationers Repeal Act (S. 1718), which would repeal CMMI, and three other rationing bodies.