[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18480]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          THE BENEFITS OF HEALTH CARE REFORM FOR ALL AMERICANS

  (Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because we really 
are on the verge of finalizing groundbreaking health care reform 
legislation that will benefit healthier generations to come and the 250 
million of us who have health care but who are tired of skyrocketing 
premiums and deductibles.
  Did your salary go up 114 percent this last decade? It sure didn't, 
but that's what happened with premiums and deductibles. This is about 
real reform, not for insurance companies and their bean counters, but 
for the American people.
  I want to emphasize today the importance of including a robust public 
plan option, relying on the Medicare provider network in the final 
reform bill. Providing Americans with a real choice in doctors and 
insurance plans puts Americans back in charge of their health care, not 
insurance companies, but real people and patients.
  I would say that for those who believe in the free market, why are 
you afraid of a public plan? Why are you afraid of something that 
competes?
  Mr. Speaker, I think it's time for us to do health care reform to 
lower costs, to make it affordable, and to benefit those of us who have 
health care to lower our deductibles and our premiums.

                          ____________________