[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21801]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     ENACT REAL HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my 
colleagues to continue our hard work in enacting real health care 
reform and to not bow to the powerful insurance lobby, to the loud 
voices of opposition, or to the claims of the misinformed.
  While we're aware of the work in the other body, that is not the work 
of this House. We know what our choices are; and as President Obama has 
said, it's time to make them. If we do nothing, health care costs for 
employers will rise 166 percent over the next decade.
  A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey showed that an estimated 8 
percent of employers will drop their coverage altogether if the current 
trend continues. We need real reform with a robust public option based 
on the existing Medicare provider network and payment system, not 
illusory proposals meant to appease those who have no real intention of 
changing the status quo or in voting for reform. Let's hold to our 
goals of lower cost, competition, and accountability.

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