WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Mark R. Warner released the following statement today after voting against cloture for S.1776, the Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009:

“While I believe doctors deserve to be paid appropriately and fixing the sustainable growth rate formula is important, we simply cannot continue adding to the deficit. The ‘doc-fix’ bill would have increased our deficit by an estimated $250 billion. We should reconsider this proposal with some mechanism that pays for it so that we do not continue adding to our national debt. I remain committed to reforming our health care system to control costs and reduce the deficit, and to developing a long-term, cost-effective solution for Medicare physician payments.”