[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 167 (Monday, November 9, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2755]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      PROMOTING INNOVATION AND ACCESS TO LIFE-SAVING MEDICINE ACT

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                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, November 7, 2009

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I and others have spoken at 
length on the ways that this bill improves and will improve health care 
for all of our constituents. Another significant benefit of this 
legislation which has not received as much attention will be the 
creation of new high-paying jobs in this country. Let me repeat that 
for some of my friends on the other side of the aisle, this bill will 
create high-paying, high-quality jobs in healthcare delivery, 
technology, and research in the United States.
  First, this bill will create enormous demand for healthcare workers, 
especially in the area of primary care. Insuring the millions of 
Americans in this country who currently have no insurance will allow 
them to see primary care providers and receive the wellness and 
preventive care they have been denied for too long. This influx of new 
patients will need doctors, nurses and technicians for their care, 
while reducing overall healthcare costs because they will not need much 
more expensive hospitalizations. I support channeling resources that 
for too long have been used to treat people once they become sick into 
jobs and services that will prevent people from getting sick in the 
first place.
  Second, this bill will continue the efforts we began in the stimulus 
package to deploy new health information technologies that better 
manage both the quality of care people receive and the cost at which 
they receive it. New health care exchanges and new demands on the 
health system to provide high-quality and cost-effective health care 
will create new opportunities and markets for our brightest technology 
minds. They will be incentivized to create and develop products that 
will be a win/win for Americans: high quality health care at an 
affordable price.
  Third, this bill will create high quality research opportunities in 
this country. The Energy and Commerce Committee enacted a framework for 
allowing biosimilar competition in this country. This new class of 
medicines will help lower costs and bring competition to one area that 
is key to the future of our healthcare system. Biotechnology is on the 
cutting edge of efforts to reducing costly invasive procedures and 
allowing our constituents to live healthier and more productive lives. 
The creation of this new class of medicines comes with requirements for 
new clinical research and testing, especially in the area of whether a 
new biosimilar can be interchangeable with an innovator's product. This 
research will create high quality and high paying jobs and it is 
imperative that we keep this research and these jobs in this country. 
We cannot allow these research opportunities to leave this country, and 
I intend to work with the Secretary of HHS and the Commissioner of the 
FDA to ensure they stay in the United States.
  Madam Speaker, I do not look at this bill as one of cost or drain on 
the economy of our country like so many of its opponents on the other 
side of the aisle. I see this bill as an exciting opportunity to create 
the kind of jobs we so desperately need in this country while at the 
same time improving the lives of all Americans. This bill will improve 
health care, create jobs and grow our economy.

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