[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19561]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              STOP THE RACE TO GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. FORBES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, last night I made thousands of phone calls 
across my district in a tele-town hall meeting, and I listened to my 
constituents, and two phrases emerged. The first one was ``fear.'' 
They're afraid of the recklessness that would allow us to begin a 
massive new program the experts agree will not reduce health care costs 
and will devastate the economy before we fix Medicare, which they know 
will be bankrupt in just 8 years.
  They're afraid of the arrogance that leads some to conclude that a 
government committee or bureaucrat will make a better decision about an 
individual's health care than that individual can make with their 
doctor.
  And they're also afraid of the short-sightedness of creating a plan 
that will result in rationing health care to seniors and creating 
longer lines and waits for the procedures they need.
  But they're also grateful. They're grateful for those of us who will 
listen to them to bring some common sense and balance to the health 
care debate by stopping this race to a government takeover of their 
health care system and that will work instead for a system that finally 
puts our patients first.

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