[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17461-17462]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   HEALTH CARE: MEND IT, DON'T END IT

  (Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado asked and was given permission to address

[[Page 17462]]

the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, soon we will be debating health 
care reform on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. 
The goal is to pass legislation before the upcoming August recess. No 
doubt one of the most significant features of the debate on health care 
reform will involve what is now known as the ``public option.''
  The public option is a government-run health care program. The 
President has said that anyone who has private health care insurance 
will be allowed to either keep it or join the government plan. Mr. 
Speaker, the public option is the first step to a complete government 
takeover of our private health insurance system. The public option will 
have advantages by virtue of being a government entity. It will destroy 
the private health care insurance market, turning the entire system 
over to a Federal bureaucracy.
  The Federal Government's record of managing Medicare, Medicaid, and 
the care of our veterans is one of allowing massive fraud, 
inefficiencies, and the abuse of patients.
  Mr. Speaker, our private health insurance is in need of reform, but I 
would urge my fellow Members of Congress to mend it and not end it.

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