[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19576]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             LET'S BE HONEST ABOUT THIS HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, some things just don't add up. We're told 
that the Democrats' version of health care reform will cost less in the 
long run. Haven't we heard this before?
  When Medicare was instituted more than 30 years ago, for the first 25 
years we were told that it would cost this amount. Instead, it costs 
nine times that much and that holds true for just about every 
government program that we institute.
  There are multiple, multiple times that it costs more and more and 
more than we ever thought it would. How do you control costs when you 
have no money to spend, when you have to borrow money? You control 
costs by rationing. Markets control costs with competition, a ration by 
competition. But governments control costs by rationing. And so what 
will happen here inevitably is that the services that you are now used 
to receiving, the medical services will be severely circumscribed.
  Let's be honest about this reform, at least, and tell people what 
they're going to get.

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