Health Care

Floor Speech

Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, today, millions of Americans cannot afford or do not have access to health insurance.

Since 1999, health care insurance premiums have more than doubled for most Americans. Virginians are not immune to the Nationwide trend in health care. For the last several years, health care premiums in Virginia have increased at approximately 10 percent a year, and today, more than 1.1 million Virginians are uninsured.

From the hourly worker in Newport News, Virginia, who must somehow find room in his or her budget to pay for health insurance, to the small business owner in Fredericksburg, Virginia, who voluntarily chooses to provide health insurance as a benefit to his or her employees but, with the slowing economy, is finding it incredibly difficult to absorb increased health insurance costs, Virginians are struggling to find affordable health care.

I've been traveling around my district, and have held dozens of meetings with constituents and with my 150-plus-member health advisory council, and thousands of e-mails are pouring into my office each week. In addition, I have also hosted multiple town hall meetings and tele-town hall meetings.

What I am hearing from my constituents is that they do not want to be forced into a new government-run health care plan that will limit their choices of doctors and of medical treatment options. Equally as important is to protect our small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy, from being penalized.

I hope that we will take this opportunity to craft legislation across the aisle that will make health care more affordable, that will enhance access for all Americans, that will ensure patients are getting their health care, and that will guarantee that doctors and patients, not insurance companies, are making important health care decisions.

Source