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




                   HEALTH CARE REFORM URGENTLY NEEDED

  (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, our country urgently needs 
health care reform. Health insurance premiums have more than doubled in 
9 years, growing three times faster than our wages. The average 
American family pays an extra $1,100 per year in premiums to support a 
broken system, and we still have 47 million people uninsured. Soaring 
costs have harmed competitiveness with American businesses in the 
global economy. I know in my own district, I had one company say they 
moved part of their production to the Netherlands because health care 
was cheaper in the Netherlands than it was in the United States.
  For six decades America has tried to debate what we can do to fix 
this broken system. We have had 45 hours of bipartisan debate in three 
separate House committees and 79 House hearings on health care reform 
in just over 2 years.
  If you have Medicare or employer-based insurance, you shouldn't be 
affected. You will have real choice. You will have the freedom to 
choose your insurance. If you don't have employer-based insurance, then 
we need you to have an option, and today you don't have that option.

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