Political Quotes

“Colleagues, individual responsibility is a cornerstone of health reform to ensure that every American has affordable health insurance coverage, and that's why it was included in the GOP 1994 reform. So this is nothing more, nothing more than a disingenuous political stunt to undermine health reform. Without individual responsibility, it would mean that we could not eliminate exclusions for preexisting conditions. We could not prohibit insurers from refusing to cover someone when they apply. We could not prohibit insurance companies from charging more when you get sick. And according to the CBO, if this were to pass, it would result in the loss of coverage for more than 16 million Americans: 6 million of the most needy among us, 5 million who would lose their insurance from their employers, 5 million who would lose individual insurance. It would raise health insurance premiums for every American buying coverage through the exchange by nearly 20 percent. This is a small business bill, and it would hurt small business. It would reduce assistance to them to provide health care to their workers, and it would increase taxes on individuals and employers who failed to cover their workers. This is misguided, period. We should defeat this in a round fashion. Now I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews).”