[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3520-3521]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1245
                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Ms. SPEIER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, it's time for us to stop talking in 
generalities and gibberish. It's time to start talking about real 
people and their real experiences. One thing all of us can agree on is 
that we trust our doctors. I just received a letter from a doctor in my 
district, Michael Bresler, who is an ER doc. Four years ago, his 
insurance premium to Anthem Blue Cross for his family of four was $539 
a month. This year that same policy will cost him $2,008 a month, a 373 
percent increase

[[Page 3521]]

since 2006. What makes this especially hard to take is that in 2005, 
Dr. Bresler and his practice were forced by Blue Cross to accept a 
contract with a 60 percent reduction in payments. Dr. Bresler calls 
Anthem Blue Cross ``robber barons.'' I assume he uses harsher language 
when he is not corresponding with Congress.
  Madam Speaker, this is not a fight among Democrats and Republicans. 
This is a fight between robber barons, the insurance industry, and 
American doctors, families and working people.

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