Health Care

Floor Speech

Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I support changing and improving our health care delivery system, and there is a lot that can be done. Unfortunately, H.R. 3962, the Speaker's health care bill, does too much and too much wrong.

This nearly 2,000-page bill will create 111 new government boards, bureaucracies, and commissions. Additionally, the bill uses the word ``shall,'' which is the government's way of saying people must do something, a whopping 3,425 times.

Instead of turning our entire health care system on its head and increasing government, we need to implement reforms that eliminate unnecessary costs in our system. Further, history shows that a government-run health care plan will be way more expensive than what is estimated today. The experience with health care entitlement programs is that they end up costing so much more than ever thought. In 1967, experts predicted that the then-new Medicare program would cost $12 billion in 1990. Actual Medicare spending in 1990 was $110 billion.

Instead of growing government, increasing bureaucracy, and creating more requirements, we must invest in wellness and prevention and promote cost savings and personal responsibility. All of that will improve opportunities for Americans.

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