[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26548]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. PUTNAM asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PUTNAM. Well, the verdict is in. The Speaker's health care bill 
accounts for nearly 2,000 pages and $1.055 trillion. It raises $730 
billion in new taxes. Businesses who cannot afford to cover their 
employees and individuals who cannot afford insurance would face $167 
billion in new taxes, and $500 billion in new taxes would be on the 
backs of mostly small businesses. The bill would slash Medicare and 
Medicaid services to home health care providers, to nursing homes, to 
hospitals, to doctors, and it would impose a $5 billion unfunded 
mandate on our States in the form of a new Medicaid burden at a time 
when our States can ill-afford it. The State of Florida alone would 
have a price tag of $5 billion.
  This bill is bad for the consumer. It's bad for patients. It's bad 
for our health care professionals. It is an expensive, unfunded burden 
on our States, and it is a stripping of freedom that is uncalled for in 
this era.

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