Obstructing Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

Obstructing Health Care Reform

Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, let me tell an old story relevant to our current health care debate.

One day, a frog was hopping by a river when he came upon a scorpion. The scorpion asked if the frog would carry him across. The frog said, No, you will sting me. The scorpion replied, No, if I stung you, we would both drown. What is the point of that?

So the frog put the scorpion on his back and waded into the river. Halfway across, he felt a sudden sting and his body went numb. Scorpion, why did you do that? Now we will both die. Said the scorpion, It is my nature.

Today, the health insurance industry refuses to cover basic maternity care for four out of five women, while charging them higher premiums. It kicks women out of hospitals within hours of a mastectomy. No industry in history that profits from a broken system has ever moved to reform that system.

After faking support for health care reform for months, why did the health insurance industry on Monday suddenly try to sting us with a flawed and incomplete cost analysis of a health care plan? The same reason they fight to prevent competition through a strong public option, and the same reason many of my Republican colleagues have done nothing but obstruct reform.

It is their nature.

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