[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9234-9235]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  LOWERING THE NUMBER OF THE UNINSURED

  (Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I hesitate to disagree with my 
fellow representative; but, Mr. Speaker, the President's program and 
the House program this week is going to find a solution for the 
uninsured for health care. Small businesses are dropping health plans 
because they cannot afford it.
  This week, the House is going to take up the Small Business Health 
Fairness Act, and it will allow small businesses that would otherwise 
be unable to afford health insurance to join together to form 
association health plans which, by the way, is one of those things that 
we have had out there for a long time and needs to be passed. It will 
insure more people with quality care at lower rates.
  Another important step today will be lowering the cost of health care 
by putting consumers in the driver's seat through health savings plans. 
Those plans give more people options when it comes to their health 
insurance, and

[[Page 9235]]

they are a great part of lowering the cost of health care and helping 
to lower the number of uninsured.
  Mr. Speaker, we are moving forward in this Congress, and we are going 
to move forward on these issues today for a better America.

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