[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18185]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      IMPACT OF HEALTH CARE CRISIS

  (Mr. HEINRICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HEINRICH. Madam Speaker, during our last work period, I conducted 
a health care listening tour across my district to learn firsthand how 
the health care crisis is impacting working families.
  I talked to Chris Davis, a single father who makes too much as an 
electrician to qualify for assistance but too little to afford coverage 
for his 7-year-old son. I listened to Bernice Romero, a fixed-income 
retiree who simply can't afford the rising premiums and out-of-pocket 
expenses to treat her debilitating carpal tunnel and knee problems.
  Stories like these drive home the fact that we must do all we can to 
both extend coverage and contain costs in our health care system. This 
means preventing fraud, waste, and abuse within the system, utilizing 
prevention and wellness programs that save money, and promoting more 
efficient delivery of health care so that all regions of the country--
rich, poor, urban, and rural--are on an even playing field.
  We must address this issue head on, and the time to act is now.

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