Mike Johanns

You can kind of see where I am headed. My concern is that you have got a whole host of old buildings out there.

In the fiscal year 2014 budget request, I note that there is funding for one--just one, across the entire country--major medical facility.

I do want to thank you for including that in the fiscal year 2014 budget request.

Mr. Chairman, thank you and thank you for calling this hearing on this budget request.

Every Senator supports expanding access to health care. We may have strong differences on the best way to do it, but no one should doubt that commitment. However, we must also ensure that we protect deeply held religious beliefs of our…

They are now a single thread instead of that tightly woven, you know, fabric and unit that they had while they were in.

If what is lacking here is that community, the peer support, the group counseling, that force that kind of pulls things together emotionally and mentally, those kinds of things seem to me to be a real pathway forward here in terms of…

I found it very interesting that you were saying, you know, a veteran comes home.

And to me, that would be extremely worrisome. This legislation has the best chance of solving a very, very difficult problem, in my opinion.

It would seem to me that the insurance industry would absolutely demand that this would be implemented.

I look forward to working with Senator Tester on this committee. We can get a lot done working together, and let us just go out and do it.

I also want to offer a word of thanks to the Senator from Montana for his leadership on S. 534, the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2013.

I do not know that there is anybody in Congress more States' rights oriented than the two people sitting up here today.

I cannot imagine--because it would seem to me so common, like in a city like Omaha, because you are right on the border, you are going to have business from other jurisdictions around you.

If I could jump over to Baird, what about this legislation do you think has a better chance of working than previous attempts?

If we succeed in reducing administrative and bureaucratic barriers to entry in the interstate insurance marketplace, it logically follows that competition will increase and, hopefully, costs will go down.

Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this hearing, first of all, and to our panel of witnesses, thank you for being here today.

Senator Johanns and I introduced legislation last year, the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Act, to create a nonprofit association to provide one-stop licensing for agents and brokers operating outside of their home…

We are especially grateful to you, Mr. Chairman, and Sen. Johanns, for your willingness to lead on this issue.

This legislation, S. 534, has once again been introduced in this Congress by Subcommittee Chairman Jon Tester and Ranking Member Mike Johanns.

I think it is fitting that Senator Johanns and I begin our tenure as Chair and Ranking Member of this Subcommittee focused on this common sense legislation which we both want to see signed into law.

That gives us a pretty good insight into at least a piece of the problem and if we could somehow jar that loose and you could deal with those claims in an expeditious way, it seems to me we take a pretty sizable step forward in dealing…

I am interested in knowing and I think the Committee would be interested to know, is there another strategy to try to break the logjam here, get you medical records, get these claims decided, and get these people the benefits they deserve?

It would really be a game changer.

I would sure feel a lot more comfortable if there were some way you could look out there and say 'get 'er done' means 12 months or 18 months or something else, because I think this is sizable.