Rand Paul wants to end cuts to physician payments under a Medicare program now in place called the sustained growth rate, or SGR. SRG is a method to ensure that the yearly increase in the expense per Medicare beneficiary does not exceed the growth in GDP. Rand considers this unfair to the Doctors - Limits their income potenial....Let's make cuts to other Federal programs....Not my federal program

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Tea party favorite Rand Paul has rocketed to the lead ahead of Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary here on a resolute pledge to balance the federal budget and slash the size of government.

GOP U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul at a candidate forum in Lexington, Ky., Monday. But on Thursday evening, the ophthalmologist from Bowling Green said there was one thing he would not cut: Medicare physician payments.

In fact, Paul — who says 50% of his patients are on Medicare — wants to end cuts to physician payments under a program now in place called the sustained growth rate, or SGR. “Physicians should be allowed to make a comfortable living,” he told a gathering of neighbors in the back yard of Chris and Linda Wakild, just behind the 10th hole of a golf course.

Paul warns darkly of the U.S. becoming the next Greece. He promises to submit legislation on term limits, a balanced budget constitutional amendment, then a balanced budget as his first acts as a senator. And he’s not afraid of taking controversial stances to get to balance.

Last night, he said the retirement age will almost certainly have to be raised to be eligible for Social Security, and the Department of Education should be abolished. But on Medicare, cuts will hurt doctors, but “patients will pay a price, too,” he said in an interview, predicting physician shortages if they continue.

He also said he plans to continue practicing ophthalmology if elected. In an interview on FoxNew.com’s Freedom Watch, Paul vowed he would never give up his “tea party values,” which apparently include pushing for self-serving legislation.

The average salary for an ophthalmologist is $256,320