GOP docs: Dem health care bill will decrease quality and access

Sens. Barasso, left, and Coburn led a group of Republican doctors who spoke out against the Democratic health care reform bill Thursday.

Washington (CNN) – A group of Republican doctors-turned-lawmakers charged Thursday that the Democratic health care bill will decrease quality of care and access to doctors without lowering health care costs.

"It doesn't address the real symptoms of the disease," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, said during a Capitol Hill news conference. "The disease is health care costs too much." Coburn is a family physician and OB/GYN.

The GOP doctors repeatedly pointed to their own experience treating patients, and predicted that the Democratic bill will not expand care.

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"The president continues to talk about making sure more people are covered but that doesn't mean more people will get care," Sen. John Barasso, R-Wyoming, said. "And there's a fundamental disconnect when [Obama] says he's going to solve this by putting 15 million more people on Medicaid," said the orthopedic surgeon.

The Republican physicians also referred to a recent New York Times report about the challenges facing the Medicaid program and argued that expanding enrollment in the federal program was not the cure to the country's rising health care costs and tens of millions of uninsured.

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