[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20215]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   WAYS AND MEANS HEALTH REFORM BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, health care reform may be the single most 
important issue Members will vote on during their entire legislative 
career. The issue affects every American. Health care affects our 
economy at home and our ability to compete internationally.
  For the first time in almost 20 years, we have a real opportunity to 
solve America's health care crisis, and the American people have spoken 
clearly and overwhelmingly that they want Congress to produce a 
solution that puts the American people's interests ahead of special 
interests.
  To say there is urgency in what we need to do is an understatement, 
and for the last several months, the three committees in the House have 
been working separately and collaboratively on health care legislation. 
Two of the committees, including the Ways and Means Committee where I 
serve, reported bills out of committee to the floor. And I want to 
explain why the Ways and Means Committee's bill is the best bill and is 
vital to the success of health care reform.
  Let's start with Medicare.
  For senior citizens, Medicare is health security. The program is so 
effectively managed that 97 cents of every dollar goes for patient 
care, and that means it's 97 percent efficient. In many private 
insurance company programs, 40 cents of every dollar simply goes for 
overhead, advertising, paper, not delivering health care. So the smart 
choice is to develop health care legislation based on a proven model, 
and that's what we did in the Ways and Means Committee.
  A new model with a strong public option based on the Medicare model, 
which has delivered quality health care to seniors and a very 
comfortable living to doctors and other medical professionals across 
this country, that's what we need today.
  Without a strong public option, health care reform is just a slogan. 
And without real cost control, health care reform is just another press 
release. America spends twice as much on health care as any other 
industrialized nation in the world, and runaway costs are bankrupting 
average Americans and consuming an even greater part of our gross 
domestic product than before. The situation is unsustainable.
  Now, we talk about the need to address preexisting conditions when it 
comes to health care, and we should. But runaway costs are a 
preexisting economic condition we must fix in the new legislation or 
we're setting ourselves up for failure.
  Recent changes to the legislation have scrapped the proven 
legislative effective and fair model we have in Medicare and 
substituted negotiated rates making the government negotiate with 
doctors. On the surface, it may look fair, but looks can be deceiving. 
The private sector has had decades of opportunities to make health care 
work, and the economic wreckage of that is everywhere to be seen. Now 
they want more.
  The legislation now would call for negotiations. Let me tell you what 
that means. So-called negotiated rates do not limit what can be charged 
or the rate of increase each year. A public option tied to Medicare is 
the only way to control the costs; otherwise, health care costs will 
keep going up and Americans will keep getting left out.
  While the rich can always take care of themselves--health care at any 
price--the middle class and the disadvantaged will remain one accident 
or illness away from financial ruin in the richest country in the 
world. That sounds like the status quo, right? We don't need any more 
of that.
  Under the chairmanship of Charlie Rangel, the Ways and Means 
Committee tackled these tough issues and produced health care reform 
legislation that's fair for providers and affordable for the American 
people.
  You have seen what happens when the private marketplace decides 
what's best for the American people: Wall Street, housing market. 
Remember, when they say the market will take care of itself, they mean 
just exactly that. And we need someone to take care of the American 
people. That's what the Ways and Means bill is all about.
  It comes down to this: Who do you trust? The private health insurance 
industry companies have had 18 years since Mrs. Clinton and the 
President tried to change it in 1993 and 1994, and there's nothing 
that's happened except raising the rates and more people losing their 
insurance. Or you can trust the people who design Medicare, which has 
given every citizen in this country, every senior citizen, real health 
security.
  The choice will be made in September. The American people will have a 
month to think about this, listen to their legislators, ask questions, 
read the bill. It's online. You can find it. There are plenty of ways 
to find out what's happening. But you have to tell your legislators, We 
want this bill from the Ways and Means Committee.

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