[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19570]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  QUALITY HEALTH CARE AT A LOWER COST

  (Mr. CASSIDY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CASSIDY. To achieve the three goals of patient-centered health 
care, we have to control costs to provide access to quality care. Now 
there are three imperatives to achieve this. We have to decrease the 
amount of money the patient is paying for administrative costs, 
increase the transparency so the patient knows what she's paying for, 
and lastly, address lifestyle issues so that a healthier patient has 
higher quality health care at lower cost. This is transformational.
  The current plan, however, the CBO says, is not transformational and 
in fact is based upon things which are very old: Medicaid, which is a 
Federal program currently bankrupting the States; and Medicare, which 
is bankrupting the Federal Government. This new third entitlement 
program builds upon those models, which is supposed to rescue the two 
that are currently bankrupting us. At a minimum, the solution should 
not cost more than the problem.
  Let's address the imperatives of lowering administrative costs, 
increasing transparency, and addressing lifestyle issues, and develop a 
patient-centered health care plan, not one built upon two programs 
going bankrupt. On a bipartisan basis, let's achieve quality, 
accessible health care at an affordable cost.

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