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




                     THE ``HEALTH'' IN HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. FORTENBERRY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FORTENBERRY. Mr. Speaker, we must put the health back into health 
care. Building a culture of wellness, including good nutrition and 
incentivizing prevention, moving from system-centered care to patient-
centered care, and creating new insurance models can help meet this 
goal. These are the right solutions for strengthening America's health 
care, and they should be the basic components of an honest national 
debate.
  The current debate is framed incorrectly, focusing on a loosely 
defined public option. This vast new government arrangement of our 
health care system may transfer millions of Americans against their 
will, Mr. Speaker, from their current insurance to a government plan 
and will add to our unsustainable fiscal conditions. It will not 
resolve the underlying problems driving costs for small businesses and 
families.
  We have the opportunity in the next few weeks to do something right 
and good for the American people, to strengthen our Nation's health 
care by improving health outcomes while reducing costs and protecting 
vulnerable persons.

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