[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 22400]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                HEALTH INSURANCE NEEDS TO BE AFFORDABLE

  (Mr. BOOZMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk of health care. Last 
week I had the opportunity to speak and listen at a town hall meeting 
in Bella Vista, Arkansas. This retirement community voiced their 
concern that insurance needed to be much more affordable and that we 
should do away with preexisting conditions. They did not want this paid 
for, though, on the backs of seniors.
  In the current proposal, $500 billion is taken away from Medicare. 
They do this by decreasing or eliminating the subsidy on Advantage 
plans, so most seniors would lose this opportunity to help them. There 
would be less money to providers when, in the situation we have now, 
it's very difficult to even find a Medicare provider in some cases.
  Again, it makes no sense, Mr. Speaker, to cut Medicare $500 billion, 
increase the patient load by 30 percent, not provide any more doctors 
to take care of the people, and no more facilities. We need reform, but 
we need commonsense reform. We must not do something just for the sake 
of doing it.

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