[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19645]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        DEMOCRATS' GOVERNMENT INTRUSION INTO PRIVATE HEALTH CARE

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                     HON. HOWARD P. ``BUCK'' McKEON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 28, 2009

  Mr. McKEON. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Democrats' 
government takeover of our Nation's health care system. This new vision 
of health care in America is not something the American people can 
embrace. A bill allowing for government intrusion into the most private 
matters of our lives can never be justified. Let me share a couple of 
examples:
  Imagine you are 65 years old and you go in for your annual checkup. 
You are in fine health and you are expecting to hear that everything is 
fine. Instead, your doctor is required by unelected government 
bureaucrats to tell you of the proper way to wind down your life and 
enter hospice care. You may be in perfect health, but the government 
entered your conversation with you and your doctor and determined that 
you should really be preparing for the end of your life. This is just 
one single intrusion on page 424 of this thousand-page bill.
  Another example of government intrusion? How about the millions of 
seniors who may lose their choice of coverage when the government steps 
in and pares back the Medicare Advantage program? The $162 billion in 
cuts proposed by the Democrat majority will result in the loss of 
health care choices for rural Californians in my district. That's just 
another government intrusion on page 331 of this 1,000-plus-page bill.
  Madam Speaker, this bill injects government into all of our private 
health care decisions, and drives the deficit up by trillions of 
dollars, passing on mountains of debt and a ruined health care system 
to our children and grandchildren. Let's take the time to read this 
bill and give the American people the opportunity to learn how much 
this is going to impact their lives every day.

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