[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16945]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 MEDIA SHOULD REPORT HEALTH CARE FACTS

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Madam Speaker, recently 12 separate articles in 
The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times have 
reported that 46 million people don't have health insurance in America. 
And the administration is trying to justify a government takeover of 
health care because of this figure.
  But not one of the articles explained that this number is a hoax. 
Fourteen million people are eligible for existing government programs 
like Medicare and Medicaid but have not enrolled. Almost ten million 
uninsured are not citizens. Nine million have high incomes and can 
afford health insurance but choose not to purchase it. And millions 
more are without insurance for only a few months between jobs.
  When you whittle down the 46 million figure, you get about 10 million 
people who truly need health insurance. We could buy all of these 
individuals a gold-plated health insurance policy for one-thirtieth of 
the cost of the President's health care plan.
  The media should give Americans all of the facts on health care, not 
just give them part of the story.

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