Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, today, the House leadership will unveil a uniquely American solution for health care reform. It will build upon existing programs like Medicare and Medicaid that will be improved significantly. It will say to employers that if you like the health insurance you're providing your employees, we want you to keep it, and we will certainly encourage more employers to provide health insurance for their employees.

But for those Americans who have no health insurance, or those Americans who have difficulty affording health insurance because they have to go out on the individual market, or have a small group plan that becomes very expensive, those individuals will be able to buy cheaper health insurance, much more low-cost health insurance through what the Federal Government would provide. There will be competition between public and private plans, and that will be our way of reducing costs. Because what this plan will do primarily is to reduce costs for most Americans and, at the same time, make sure that every American has health insurance.

I can't tell you how important that is. It is so important that every American know that they can have quality and affordable health insurance. It basically allows them to have peace of mind to not have to worry about whether they have one job or another, and this is what we're doing because we believe it's important for the average American.

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