[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18042-18043]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                EARLY DIAGNOSIS SAVES MONEY FOR RESEARCH

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. I heard my Republican colleague from California who just 
spoke say that somehow the President was suggesting that this health 
care reform bill, which is so important, might go so far as to cure 
cancer. I tell you, it's not going to cure cancer. But if you think 
about the fact that in this bill we put so much emphasis on prevention 
and we make sure that 97 percent of Americans who are not elderly

[[Page 18043]]

would now be covered, the fact of the matter is that means that people 
go to a doctor on a regular basis. And if they go to a doctor and they 
find out that they have cancer at an earlier stage, then they get the 
attention so maybe they don't die from the cancer.
  You know what? If everybody goes to the doctor now and as a result of 
that they don't have to go for more serious treatment and the expense 
that's involved with that, there will be money saved--and that money 
can go towards more research on cancer and the cure for cancer.
  So I would say to my colleague, we're not saying it's going to cure 
cancer, but I tell you it would do a lot towards preventing those 
people that have serious problems, finding them out early, being 
diagnosed, and helping them out.

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