[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 7 (Friday, January 12, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HEALTH CARE DECISIONS SHOULD BE MADE BY DOCTORS

  (Mr. PRICE of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, today we will take up the Medicare 
prescription drug program, a program where costs were $13 billion lower 
than projected in 2006; needed life-saving drugs are available; and 80 
percent of the beneficiaries are supportive and satisfied with the 
program.
  So what problems are the Democrats trying to solve? Theirs is really 
a solution in search of a problem. The Democrats think that Washington 
can make better decisions than the American people about very personal 
medical matters. And what happens when the government gets more 
involved? Things become more bureaucratic and more expensive.
  As a physician, I know how difficult it is to take care of patients, 
oftentimes because so many non-medical people are making medical 
decisions.
  If H.R. 4 is adopted and becomes law, Washington bureaucrats will 
decide which drugs will be available for patients, not from a 
scientific or safety standpoint but purely based upon money.
  That is not the way we ought to be making health care decisions. 
Those decisions ought to be made by patients and doctors.

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