Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this process is an embarrassment. This is nuclear-grade bonkers what is happening here tonight. We are about to reorder one-fifth of the American healthcare system, and we are going to have 2 hours to review a bill which, at first blush, stands essentially as healthcare system arson. This bill is lighting the American healthcare system on fire with intentionality. To use the word ``freedom'' at its center--there is freedom in this bill. There is the freedom to go bankrupt, there is the freedom to get sick and not be able to find a doctor, and there is freedom in this bill to die early. That is not hyperbole. That is what happens when, overnight, 16 million people lose insurance. Don't tell us that is because people all of a sudden will not be mandated to buy it. This is a vicious cycle that happens. When you get rid of the mandate, every insurance company will tell you that rates skyrocket because you are not getting rid of the provision that requires insurance companies to price sick people the same as healthy people. CBO says that rates go up immediately by 20 percent and then 20 percent after that and then 20 percent after that. So all of a sudden you can't have the individual mandate because nobody can afford to buy the product. There is a lot of freedom in this bill, it is just not the kind of freedom we all thought was at the heart of this reform measure. This is real life. It is not a game.…”