[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20096]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               BETTER ALTERNATIVE FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. FLEMING asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, as a doctor, one of the main reasons I came 
to Congress was to push for health care reform, that is, commonsense 
reform, not nonsense reform as proposed by our Democrat colleagues. 
That's why I'm proud to be an original cosponsor of the Empowering 
Patients First Act, a Republican bill for reform.
  This bill contains all of the essential elements of good health care 
reform, including expanding private insurance to all Americans who want 
it, removing preexisting illnesses, improving portability, subsidies to 
the working poor, access to excellent primary and specialty care and, 
of course, instituting lawsuit reform. All of this is accomplished 
without a government takeover, without gutting Medicare, without long 
lines or bureaucrats interfering in the sacred doctor-patient 
relationship; and it is budget neutral.
  It is obvious that private insurance, no matter who pays for it, is 
the gold standard. As we return to our districts and debate this 
important issue, I believe we will find that Americans truly want 
private insurance options, not the government takeover of health care 
with the Soviet-style central planning of our economy.

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