[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21221]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        WAKE UP AMERICA: THIS IS THE TIME FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. OLVER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, there are those in America who claim that we 
can't fix our broken health care system during an economic crisis. The 
truth is that we can't afford not to fix it.
  Health care premiums have risen every year for more than a decade, at 
least three times as fast as family incomes have risen. If we doing 
nothing, those rising health insurance premiums will eat up an ever 
larger slice of family incomes. Businesses that provide health 
insurance as a benefit for workers and their families will be ever more 
competitively disadvantaged. That is a loss of jobs that America cannot 
afford to lose.
  Others in America claim that reform will mean a government takeover 
of health care decisions. The opposite is true. Every American will be 
able to choose their insurance plan and their doctor, but dropping a 
person's coverage because of a preexisting condition will be prohibited 
from all insurance plans.
  Reform will ensure that the doctor and the family make the critical 
decisions on needed care. Now the insurance company executives make 
those decisions, and they only care about their profits.
  Wake up, America; this is the time for health care reform.

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