Bucshon Hopes To Keep Molding Healthcare Policy After Congress
Washington,
January 15, 2024
Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN-8th) plans to retire from Congress at the end of his term, but he is not planning to retire outright once he leaves Capitol Hill.
“I just really feel strongly that I’ve done my time (in Congress), and I feel it’s time for me and my family to open a new chapter,” Bucshon told WISH-TV. He said his plans do not include getting back into practice medicine. Bucshon was a medical doctor for several years prior to getting into politics. He was a heart surgeon in Evansville and said that he has been out of practicing medicine for more than a decade and that he would have to engage in some medical training first if he were to try and get back into medicine. Instead, Bucshon hopes to keep influencing policy when it comes to healthcare after he leaves Congress. “I’m going to try and do something that influences national healthcare policy,” he said. “What that will be, I don’t know yet. I hope to find a position. Something in healthcare. Something government-centric.” With ten months left in his term, Bucshon still has a long list of things he would like to accomplish. One of those goals is to influence policy that will encourage more doctors to practice in rural parts of the country. Part of that goal is to increase what doctors are reimbursed by the government to treat patients on Medicare. “Rural America, under-served America, right now it’s difficult to get providers to practice there and to take Medicare because of low reimbursement rates,” Bucshon said. “We want to make sure those are adequate so we can get doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners back into rural America because those citizens deserve good healthcare close to home.” Bucshon said he will not be endorsing anyone to succeed him in the eighth district, but he said he will support whomever the GOP nominee is after the primary in May. |