OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Impact Of Health Care Crisis

Date: July 17, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Health and Health Care

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Mr. HEINRICH. Madam Speaker, during our last work period, I conducted a health care listening tour across my district to learn firsthand how the health care crisis is impacting working families.

I talked to Chris Davis, a single father who makes too much as an electrician to qualify for assistance but too little to afford coverage for his 7-year-old son. I listened to Bernice Romero, a fixed-income retiree who simply can't afford the rising premiums and out-of-pocket expenses to treat her debilitating carpal tunnel and knee problems.

Stories like these drive home the fact that we must do all we can to both extend coverage and contain costs in our health care system. This means preventing fraud, waste, and abuse within the system, utilizing prevention and wellness programs that save money, and promoting more efficient delivery of health care so that all regions of the country--rich, poor, urban, and rural--are on an even playing field.

We must address this issue head on, and the time to act is now.

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