dr. burgess, may i yield a minute to you? >> thank you. governor patrick had a question, and so rudely would not yield the time. i'm happy to yield the time to answer the question. >> i'm good. >> you know, i seriously, mr. chairman has changed. i am going to -- i'm going to have to step away in order to get a plane, so unless you have a question for me, dr. burgess, i don't want to. >> i was dying to answer your question. i didn't want to leave the audience unfulfilled with you unable to ask me a question. >> thank you very much. if it's appreciate, mr. -- appropriate, mr. chairman, if there are other questions i would be happy to respond in writing. i have to make the plane. >> the chair thanks the gentleman. >> let me in the remaining time that i have, one the issues that we lost out in the health care reform was the issue of liability reform. i know i have other the years interviewed several doctors from massachusetts who moved to texas even before we fixed the problem there. how are you dealing with this within your state? >> we have

dr. burgess. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the chairman for his commitment to listening to the states of this exercise because it is so critical what happens at the state level. there were a handful of people on this panel but it's in the medicare -- medicaid patients and their professional careers before coming to congress. i am one of those. when i point out the massive flaws of the system, it not out of a lack of compassion that precisely the opposite. the federal government create the system to care for the poor come in the poorest in society, but it's becoming an empty promise because often times it is a bait and switch. to counter cyclical nature of the program continues growth in times of financial excess when the economy goes bad. those of medicaid find themselves unable to access services because medicaid pay so much less than comparable services, even medicare pays better than medicaid. the medicaid nation soon realize the coverage does not equal access. during the debate held over the portable care a

dr. burgess, i wonder -- >> please don't. >> what's that? >> please don't, you only have a minute of time to read your idea is to hold down the cost by -- >> exactly. >> not putting people out. now governor herbert -- >> i was just going to say that what we have learned from the clinicians, from the medical professionals is that more integrated care is actually better care for the patient in terms of quality but lower-cost care as well. and so realigning the incentives so that we are paying for the quality-of-care rendered and quantity of care is where we are trying to move now. >> i have a question to ask you we have some areas of agreement as well and support for medical homes, which is also authorized by the affordable care act. but a much to focus on the eligibility cuts right now. you've promoted the idea of flexibility to allow you to cut eligibility. so my question for you is the following. do you intend to cut eligibility for the inexpensive adults and children, possibly flooding your emergency rooms without reducing the cost substan

dr. burgess. >> i thank the chair for the recognition.of course governor barbour and thank you for being here. i just wanted to clear up your concern about what we call this law and i was too. in fact i spent a long night before the rules committee trying to get the word affordable struck from the title on a germane issue because they couldn't see how affordable was germane to the bill in front of the congress but i wasn't allowed to proceed with that. so we are stuck with what it is called. governor herbert you referenced the need to expedite the supreme court review of the constitutional challenge to this law that was passed less than a year ago. now when roger vincent, judgments and issued his opinion just a few weeks ago he said injunctive relief was not necessary that his declaratory judge was all that was required because officers of the federal government would comply with the wishes of the courts. was he not correct in that statement? >> well, he may be and he may not be. that is still yet to be determined. the process is not comp

dr. burgess. >> thank you, mr. chairmanment chairmanment -- mr. chairman. the democrats did have an entire year with which to come up with their budget and appropriations, and it's only because they failed to do their work that we're doing this cr right now. let me direct your attention once again. i know -- >> the house passed it, the -- >> chairman. reclaiming my time, chairman pitts' referenced judge vincent's ruling in florida from earlier in february, and i sent you a letter on february 10th asking you about the implementation plans of hhs to which i have not yet received an answer. my concern is judge vincent in his ruling said that a declaratory judgment is the functional equivalent of an injunction, and he went on to say that officials of the executive branch will adhere to the law as declared by the court. as a result, the declaratory judgment is a functional equivalent -- the declaratory judgment is a functional equivalent of an injunction, there is no reason to conclude that this should not apply here. you, apparently, feel differently, and we he

dr. burgess for his courtesies, and also mr. towns.i rise in support of h.r. 570, because coming from the gulf coast and going through hurricane katrina, rita and ike , seeing the devastation of communities and knowing that a holeistic approach to health care is vital. we have a vibrant dental community in houston, texas. in particular, i want to note that senior dr. poindexter, has served on the american dental board and is an enthusiastic supporter of accessing dental care services to the poor. well, mr. speaker, when there's a hurricane or natural sdaster of some form, everybody -- disaster of some form, everybody falls into the same boat, and seeing a medical professional come to assist them or even to provide specific dental care after the devastation, again, of an earthquake, a tornado, obviously we have been very fortunate with earthquakes, but hurricanes, the tragedy of the incident that occurred this past weekend in louisiana, individuals who are facing needs, having the dental community be a part of this disaster response tea

dr. burgess, two minutes. >> thank you, chairman. i thank the governors for being here. i do want to thank the chairman on the commitment to listen to the states in this exercise. because it is so critical what happens at the state level. there are a handful of people that have seen the medicaid patient in their professional careers before becoming to congress. i'm one of those. so when i point out the massive flaws in the system, it's not out of a lack of compassion, but precisely the opposite. the federal government created the system to care for the poor and poorest in society. but it's now become an empty promise because often times it's a bait and switch. the countersip recall nature encourages growth and times in financial excess, and hit of maintenance of effort. those with medicaid find it unable, because medicaid pays less than comparable service. medicaid soon realizes that coverage does not equal access. we never tackled the basic question. if we were to start fresh with a blank sheet of paper, what would it look like? would it look like it does today? few of