[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15256]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. ARCURI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. ARCURI. Mr. Speaker, the health care crisis in our Nation is 
real. We need to step forward and take action to provide quality and 
affordable care for those who need it. With 46 million Americans 
uninsured in this country, there is no time to waste in offering 
hardworking families the option of health insurance while infusing 
competition into the health care market, which desperately needs it.
  Our broken health care system also happens to be the most expensive 
health care system in the world. If we don't act now, the cost of 
health care in this country in 10, 20 or 30 years will bog down our 
economy. Reforming our health care system now makes economic sense.
  Proposed health care reform is all about options. If you are happy 
with your current plans and with your current providers, keep them. The 
choice to have health insurance and the choice to get the best medical 
care you can possibly get is up to you. Health care should be a right 
for every American, and our current health care system in this country 
is broken. It is time for Congress to take the lead and to make the 
tough choices that we were sent to Washington to make.

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