[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14571]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       WE MUST REFORM HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, the time has come to take decisive action on 
health care reform. We simply cannot afford to wait any longer. 
American families and small businesses have seen the cost of health 
care coverage steadily rise to the point where many can no longer 
afford to pay their premiums. We know that our system is broken when we 
have 46 million Americans, many of them in my home State of New Jersey, 
who are only one illness or one accident away from being wiped out 
financially.
  As President Obama and the majority in Congress work to take our 
Nation in a new direction, we are firmly committed to making 
improvements in our health care system in a way which will reduce 
costs, preserve a patient's choice of doctors and plans, and ensure 
quality, affordable health care for all.
  It is important that we promote wellness by investing in prevention 
and educating about healthy life choices. Health care reform is an 
issue that we can resolve if we work together in good faith for a 
solution. Just saying ``no,'' as some in Congress have chosen to do, 
will only worsen the problem.

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