[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26544]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 PROVIDING HEALTH CARE TO ALL AMERICANS

  (Mr. ENGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. ENGEL. Well, as President Ronald Reagan used to say, there you go 
again. The same crowd that opposed Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s, 
who told us that that would bring socialized medicine to the United 
States, are now opposing health care for all, saying once again it will 
bring socialized medicine and all kinds of ills.
  We have 46 million or 47 million Americans that don't have health 
coverage, and that will grow to 50 million, 60 million, and 70 million, 
so people that have coverage now will lose their coverage if we do 
nothing.
  So this Democratic majority is going to do something. We are going to 
pass a comprehensive health care bill that will ensure that virtually 
all Americans will have health care. We are going to pass a bill that 
will make sure that the insurance companies can't refuse to cover you 
because they say you have a preexisting condition. We are going to make 
it so the insurance companies don't continue to collude amongst 
themselves to keep health care premiums high. We are going to make it 
so that we have affordable health care for all for the American people.
  The American people should reject the lies and scares and fear 
tactics. We are going to have health care for all, and it is going to 
be good for the American people.

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