[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24363-24364]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                THE NEED FOR A HEALTH CARE PUBLIC OPTION

  (Mr. SARBANES asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to congratulate the American 
people on how savvy and smart they are when it comes to this health 
care reform effort. A survey was done recently, and the question was 
asked, Do you support an individual mandate, which is the requirement 
that people purchase insurance coverage? In answer to that, there was 
some ambivalence. People weren't so sure. Then they asked the question 
this way, they said, What if we give you a public option, would you 
support an individual mandate? And a clear majority said, Absolutely, 
we would.
  Now let's think about that for a minute. What they were saying was, 
Don't force us to go purchase insurance coverage if we have to buy it 
from the same old cast of characters that's been jerking us around for 
decades. But if you give us a real option, then it absolutely makes 
common sense to require that.
  So once again Americans have demonstrated they understand this 
problem. They understand why we need to have a public option in the 
mix, and that's what we're going to push forward with in this 
legislation.

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