[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 51 (Thursday, March 26, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H2084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, we just witnessed an opportunity that 
should not be singular, and that is the coming together of Members of 
the United States Congress to address some very important issues.
  I have already spoken on the importance of providing for the 
Children's Health Insurance Program that this legislation, H.R. 2, has 
provided for and securing Medicare for our seniors and ensuring funding 
for our federally qualified health clinics, the very clinics that I 
advocated for so many years ago. And we have seen a growth in them. The 
ones that are in my congressional district, they opened their doors to 
low-income and those without insurance in years past.
  We are trying to get in front of the issue and the crisis of health 
care in America. But I want to make sure that as we pass this 
legislation, we do not forget physician-owned hospitals, which are 
prevalent in the State of Texas, and there are many in my neighborhood. 
These are doctors who have sacrificed to open the doors of hospitals in 
low-income areas. It is important for CMS to make sure that their 
applications are expeditiously and efficiently reviewed and that they 
have the opportunity to expand. This is language that we have put into 
the Affordable Care Act so the doors of these hospitals can remain open 
to the sick and those who are in neighborhoods where access to health 
care is not strong.
  I ask my colleagues to continue to push forward on good health care 
in America and to help physician-owned hospitals in the way that they 
should be under the Affordable Care Act.

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