[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 25784-25785]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1315
                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. WITTMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, today, millions of Americans cannot afford 
or do not have access to health insurance.
  Since 1999, health care insurance premiums have more than doubled for 
most Americans. Virginians are not immune to the Nationwide trend in 
health care. For the last several years, health care premiums in 
Virginia have increased at approximately 10 percent a year, and today, 
more than 1.1 million Virginians are uninsured.
  From the hourly worker in Newport News, Virginia, who must somehow 
find room in his or her budget to pay for health insurance, to the 
small business owner in Fredericksburg, Virginia, who voluntarily 
chooses to provide health insurance as a benefit to his or her 
employees but, with the slowing economy, is finding it incredibly 
difficult to absorb increased health insurance costs, Virginians are 
struggling to find affordable health care.
  I've been traveling around my district, and have held dozens of 
meetings

[[Page 25785]]

with constituents and with my 150-plus-member health advisory council, 
and thousands of e-mails are pouring into my office each week. In 
addition, I have also hosted multiple town hall meetings and tele-town 
hall meetings.
  What I am hearing from my constituents is that they do not want to be 
forced into a new government-run health care plan that will limit their 
choices of doctors and of medical treatment options. Equally as 
important is to protect our small businesses, which are the backbone of 
our economy, from being penalized.
  I hope that we will take this opportunity to craft legislation across 
the aisle that will make health care more affordable, that will enhance 
access for all Americans, that will ensure patients are getting their 
health care, and that will guarantee that doctors and patients, not 
insurance companies, are making important health care decisions.

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