[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25794]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. OLSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues in the majority have repeatedly 
promised that under their public option plan, individuals can keep the 
coverage they currently have and nothing will change except they will 
have more choices at a lower cost.
  As I speak with employers and small businesses in my district, the 
truth is vastly different. Several employers in the district I 
represent have candidly stated that dropping private insurance for 
employees, instead of paying a mandatory 8 percent surtax, makes the 
most economic sense for their business. Employees will no longer have 
the choice to keep the coverage they currently have under this 
scenario.
  Raising taxes, eliminating choices for Americans, and placing the 
government in charge of health care, that hardly strikes me as a 
choice. The hardworking Americans in the 22nd District of Texas and 
cities and towns across America were promised a choice.
  I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, where is the 
choice in this government-mandated care?

                          ____________________