[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 17, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. TONKO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, this week we are closer than we have ever 
been to passing real, comprehensive health insurance reform for the 
American people.
  Reform is simple. It gives consumers, working families, and small 
businesses more control and forces insurance companies to do what is 
right. With respect to Medicare, it extends the life of the Medicare 
trust fund and improves benefits for our seniors, including improving 
the prescription drug benefit.
  My friends on the other side of the aisle are not interested in 
passing real reform for the American people. They want to maintain the 
status quo in which we see health care spending growing exponentially, 
more and more families losing coverage, and health insurance companies 
continuing to raise rates free of any restrictions. And they are okay 
with allowing tens of millions of taxpaying, hardworking Americans to 
go on without needed health insurance, the same coverage they enjoy as 
Members of Congress.
  They also want to eliminate Medicare as we know it today. They want 
to privatize Medicare and give seniors a coupon to go out and shop for 
private insurance plans from the same companies that have been raising 
rates and dropping customers.
  Health insurance reform is not just about insuring the uninsured. 
It's about also protecting and improving Medicare. Mr. Speaker, I 
encourage these reforms.

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