[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6385]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     MOVE AHEAD ON HEALTH CARE BILL

  (Mr. WELCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELCH. We have a debate on health care, but the fundamental 
question that we face is whether we were going to stick with the status 
quo or we were going to put a stake in the ground to have a health care 
system where all are covered and all help pay. We did this, 
unfortunately, without bipartisan support. The question we now have is 
making this work. The status quo was broken. We're spending two, three 
times the rate of inflation, the rate of wage growth. Our businesses 
can't afford it. We spend more and get less, with 45 million Americans 
uninsured. Now, folks want to repeal it. That includes provisions where 
your child can be on your health care policy until age 26; where the 
doughnut hole is going to finally be closed so seniors can get the 
prescription drugs they need; where folks who need preventive care and 
long-term care are going to have access to the care that they need; 
where there won't be a lifetime cap on coverage, so that if you get 
really sick and need that, you're going to be able to get access to it.
  So now the debate is: Are we going to improve this health care system 
and this health care bill, and do it together, or are we going to 
repeal it? I say: move ahead.

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