[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14356]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         PROVIDING AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE, QUALITY HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. BLUNT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, Republicans are eager for this discussion, 
this debate on health care to move forward. We are eager to talk about 
health care in committee, on the floor, in hearings, at news 
conferences, wherever people want to talk about a health care system 
that ensures more quality, widespread coverage, and accessibility.
  In fact, we have a plan that will be based on five principles, and 
today I want to talk about one of those principles, which is just 
simply to make quality health care coverage affordable and accessible 
for every American, regardless of preexisting health conditions. That 
is a statement that almost every Member of this House I believe would 
agree with, and our debate is just simply how we get there.
  We need to be committed to get there. We need to ensure that 
everybody has not just access to health care because of certain Federal 
regulations. Everyone can get into a health care environment if there 
is a crisis, but we want to be sure they have coverage that gets them 
into health care through their entire life and through all the needs of 
their health care.
  Affordable, accessible, quality health care is something we are eager 
to debate. We have the plans that will get there, and we hope that a 
competitive marketplace allows more choices.

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