[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8402]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. CARNAHAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CARNAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I'm proud of the work Congress and the 
President have accomplished in just over 2 months: Expanded health care 
for 11 million children; assistance to families to maintain their 
health coverage through COBRA; funds to help States prevent cuts to 
Medicaid; and investments in safe and cost-saving electronic health 
record technology.
  Some naysayers claim that the President and Congress are doing too 
much too soon. But we cannot fix our economy without fixing our broken 
health care system. And that's why I'm here today, to mark Cover the 
Uninsured Week with a call to action, action to achieve comprehensive 
health care reform, not next year, not in 4 years, but this year.
  We have over 45 million individuals who lack health coverage in this 
country. Fifty-six billion dollars in unpaid bills are driving up the 
cost of insurance for everyone.
  Reforming health care will strengthen our middle class, help 
businesses create jobs and be competitive, rebuild the economy and put 
our Nation on a sound financial footing far into the future.
  Now is the time for comprehensive health care reform.

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