[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1444-H1445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Walz) for 5 minutes.

[[Page H1445]]

  Mr. WALZ. Madam Speaker, this week this House has a historic 
opportunity. For far too long, millions of Americans have not been able 
to afford basic health care coverage. For far too long, families with 
insurance are told when they finally need to use that insurance, that 
they are not covered. For too long, insurance company executives and 
bureaucrats have dictated what is covered to the doctors.
  For far too long, those who are insured have been paying a hidden tax 
to cover the millions of uninsured. This week the figure is $51 
million. For far too long, the United States has spent double the 
amount of any other industrialized nation, and we are no healthier for 
it. And for far too long, there have been those who have said we can 
wait a little longer; we will put health care off and do it at another 
time.
  This button was given to me last weekend by a woman in Fountain, 
Minnesota. It reads, ``Healthcare for All--the time is now.'' She's 
been carrying it for 25 years.
  Last week, the Mayo Clinic--which is in my district in southern 
Minnesota--along with the Cleveland Clinic and other leading 
institutions, put out a statement urging reform in this House. The 
statement read, ``Reforming health care in America will not become 
easier with the passage of time,'' and we urge you to move forward.
  The time is right for America to fix this inequity. The time is right 
to move America forward, and as the button says, health care for all, 
the time is now. That is this week.

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