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




         PASSAGE OF PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

  (Mr. CONAWAY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, here in Washington, in these hallowed 
Halls, we have the power to do many things. At times, it might appear 
as if there is no riddle so complex that the careful arrangement of 
words on a paper cannot overcome it. Indeed, the very rationale behind 
the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act was to solve 
forever the Gordian knot of equality in our citizens' access to health 
care. Yet, for all its words, commands, prescriptions, and boards in 
the bill, Richard Foster, the chief actuary of CMS, has laid bare an 
essential truth about these mandates. Mr. Speaker, they have 
consequences. On page 10 of his recent report, Mr. Foster states 
unequivocally that this bill will make hospitals, long-term care 
facilities, and other part A providers unprofitable.
  It's clear to me, Mr. Speaker, that while we in Washington can pass 
words on paper that guarantee all Americans health care, that the 
doctors and hospitals throughout America may not be around long enough 
to provide them care. More jobs, Mr. Speaker, lost to wrong-headed 
policies being foisted upon the American people by this majority.

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