[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19559]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               A GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER IS NOT THE SOLUTION

  (Mr. WALDEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I was a small business owner for 21 years. 
There is no question that it's time to reform the health care system, 
but a government takeover is not the solution. Putting a government 
bureaucrat between your family and your doctor is not the solution, and 
losing the health plan you have today is not a solution. Yet the 
Democrats' bill would do just that. It puts a bureaucrat between you 
and your doctor. It doesn't have real reform. According to independent 
analysis, two out of three Americans won't be able to keep their plans, 
and it does nothing to bring down the costs. In fact, it drives up the 
deficit by over $239 billion.
  Meanwhile, if you're out in places like Oregon, rural Oregon, the CEO 
of Asante Health System, Roy Vinyard, in southern Oregon, said the 
government option under the Democrats' plan would be the death knell 
for hospitals since it pays Medicare rates. Currently, Medicare only 
pays 76 percent of their hospital's costs, and yet 52 percent of their 
patients are on Medicare. If the percentage of Medicare-like payments 
increases to 75 percent of their patients, the hospital will have to 
close its doors.
  So that plan does nothing to rein in costs. It does nothing to keep 
the doors open. We need to reform health care, but let's do it in a way 
that puts patients first and that doesn't destroy small business.

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