[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19548]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, with Congress deep in negotiations over the 
substance of health care reform, I'm increasingly concerned about the 
President's recent unhelpful remarks.
  In his remarks last week, he maintained that a pediatrician treating 
a child with a recurring sore throat may recommend removing tonsils 
merely to increase the reimbursement from an insurance company. To 
insinuate that doctors are ordering unnecessary surgeries on children 
for a few more dollars in reimbursement is deeply offensive to millions 
of doctors who work each day to help us raise healthy children. Over 
the weekend, I was approached by several constituents in the health 
profession who said those remarks were insulting to them.
  I worry that the President may have an unrealistic view of the 
medical community and the overwhelming and vast number of hardworking 
doctors and nurses that are concerned first with the health of 
patients. While we're not trying to do nothing, we're not arguing for 
the status quo. As we reform our health care system, we should be 
careful. We're not trying to fix some things that aren't broken and in 
the process break other things that currently work for millions of 
American.

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