[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Pages 28285-28286]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have traveled a great distance to get 
where we stand today. With the bill we unveiled last night, we begin 
the last leg of this historic journey.
  The American people and President Obama have asked us for health 
insurance reform. There are two things we must have above all: No. 1, 
make it more affordable for every American to live a healthy life, and 
No. 2, do so in a fiscally responsible way that helps our economy 
recover. Senate Democrats have listened, and we have written a bill 
that will save lives, save money, and save Medicare.
  Since yesterday evening, the bill has been on the Internet for all to 
see. You will find it at democrats.senate.gov, but here is a quick 
summary of what is in that bill. And I say, Mr. President, this is a 
big bill. I was at a meeting with some other Senators this morning, and 
everyone acknowledged that no one can ever remember a bill that affects 
everybody in America as this bill does. It is a bill that has a lot of 
pages in it. But, as we know, it is printed the way all bills are 
printed. If we wanted to print it in smaller fashion--as books are 
written, for example--it would be much smaller. It is a lot of words, 
and every word in it is important and necessary. Since yesterday 
evening, as I have indicated, this bill has been on the Internet. 
Everyone in the world can see this bill.
  As the President asked us to do, this bill will not add a dime to the 
deficit--quite the opposite, in fact: It will cut it by $130 billion in 
the first 10 years and by as much as $\3/4\ trillion in the first 20 
years. We do this by keeping costs down. This critical reform will cost 
less than $85 billion a year over the next decade, well under President 
Obama's goal.
  We will make sure every American can afford quality health care. We 
will make sure more than 30 million Americans who do not have health 
care today will soon have it. We will not only protect Medicare, but we 
will make it stronger.
  These numbers are as impressive as they are important for our 
Nation's future, and though we are proud of these numbers, these 
figures, we cannot afford to overlook what this is really all about. 
More accurately, we cannot afford to overlook whom this is about.
  This is about a parent who cannot take a child to the doctor because 
insurance is too expensive, their employer canceled it, or they lost 
their job. That is why we are making sure every American can afford 
good coverage.
  This is about the small business in Nevada or someplace else in the 
country that had to lay off an employee because it couldn't afford 
skyrocketing health care premiums. That is why we are cutting those 
small business taxes.
  It is about the woman with high cholesterol or the man with heart 
disease or the child with hay fever who can't get help and can't get 
insurance. That is why we are stopping insurance companies from 
deciding they would rather not give health care to the sick.
  This is about the family who has to make a terrible choice between 
their

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mortgage and their medications. When this bill passes, the only choice 
they will have to make is which insurance company offers them the best 
coverage. They will have the choice to make, and it is a good choice. 
The choice is, which best suits their family?
  This is also about mothers and sisters and wives and daughters who 
cannot get the proper testing they need to detect breast cancer. It is 
inexcusable that women cannot get the tests they need. That is why we 
are making prevention and wellness a priority.
  For these families and these businesses, for our economy's renewal, 
our children's future, and our Nation's promise, the finish line is in 
sight. I am confident we will cross it soon. Once again, I am inviting 
my Republican colleagues to join us on the right side of history.

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