[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21293]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          HEALTH CARE REFORMS

  (Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last night the President 
spoke about health care. And despite what some may portray as big 
rifts, there is much room for agreement. And so I urge we work on these 
health care principles to get this job done. Everyone should have the 
choice to purchase in groups, the choice to purchase across the Nation 
competitively, the choice to have your plan portable and permanent 
across jobs, and the choice to purchase a basic plan that covers 
emergency and hospital care.
  The President used the analogy of buying car insurance. But let's 
keep in mind that with auto insurance, you can buy a very basic 
liability plan and add to it if you choose. Keep health insurance very 
basic, and you can keep it very affordable. But there should be no 
choice to cut coverage because a person is sick or was sick at one 
time, and there should be no choice to have plans and hospitals that 
tolerate waste, fraud and inefficiency. This includes stopping 
hospital-based infections.
  With these changes, we can make health care more affordable. With 
these changes we can supplement payments for lower cost, high-quality 
health insurance for those who cannot afford it, and that does not have 
to include the government running an insurance company. There's lots of 
room for agreement. Let's solve this problem for America. That's good 
medicine.

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