[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19552]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         PROVIDING HEALTH CARE THAT AMERICANS NEED AND DESERVE

  (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, we Democrats have been explaining the 
health care bill, but our colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
seem not to have heard. The truth about our bill is that it does not 
create a government-run health care system. Instead, there is one 
public plan. Individuals and families can keep the plan they have, or 
they are free to choose--free to choose--the public plan or one of the 
private plans in the exchange.
  As a doctor, I support the bill, and I want it passed out of Energy 
and Commerce this week because it gives family doctors like me the 
support we need to spend time listening to our patients and managing 
their care. It actually removes the barriers between doctors and their 
patients.
  For those in this country who have never had full access to quality 
and comprehensive care, we welcome the bill, even though we know it 
will cost a lot to begin to close the health care gaps that our 
dysfunctional system has created. We cannot afford not to do it. Lives 
are at stake. There are enough savings in this bill from prevention to 
help pay for it.
  To everyone who is holding this bill hostage, please get out of the 
way and let us pass H.R. 3200 so that everyone in this country can have 
the health care they deserve and they need.

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