[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 17, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1522]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. BACA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, we must pass health care reform now. A step-
by-step approach is not the answer. If we do nothing, Americans will 
continue to pay higher premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs now and 
in the future. There are too many Americans that are without health 
coverage.
  In my district in San Bernardino County, California, there are over 
220,000 without coverage. We also face a 15 percent unemployment rate 
and the fourth highest foreclosure rate in the Nation.
  Health care reform will lower the costs and hold health insurance 
companies accountable; end discrimination based on preexisting 
conditions; cut and eventually close the doughnut hole for thousands of 
seniors, including 5,200 seniors in my district; cut the national 
deficit by $100 billion over 10 years; and produce over 4 million new 
jobs in the coming decade.
  Families, not insurance companies, deserve the right to make their 
own health care decisions. Congress must not kick the can down the 
road. We need health care reform now. I state, we need health care 
reform now. This is a historic moment.
  I ask us to support health care reform now--not tomorrow, not in the 
future, but now.

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