[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 70 (Tuesday, May 11, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H3282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               HEALTH INSURANCE MYTH AND FACT--THE PROOF

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, how many times did we hear during this past 
year, year and a half, ``If you like what you have, you can keep it''--
talking about health insurance, talking about your doctor. We even 
heard the Presidential candidate of 2008 who eventually won the 
Presidency, ``If you like your doctor, if you like your insurance 
company, nothing about my law will require you to change that.''
  But now we're finding out an entirely different story. Published on 
CNN Money, published in Fortune magazine this past week, ``Many 
companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable, 
dumping the health care coverage they provide to their workers in 
exchange for paying a penalty in fees to the government.''
  Consider this, from CNN Money on May 6:
  ``Internal documents recently reviewed by Fortune, originally 
requested by Congress, shows what the bill's critics predicted and what 
its champions dreaded: Many large companies are examining a course that 
was heretofore unthinkable, dumping health care coverage they provide 
to their workers.''
  A large company that employs 300,000 employees spends $2.4 billion a 
year on health care coverage. That figure would drop if they simply 
paid the fines to $600 million. $2.4 billion to $600 million. What 
choice are they going to make?

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