Chris Murphy: “What we figured out over time, because we were a State that submitted waivers to the Federal Government to expand our…”

“What we figured out over time, because we were a State that submitted waivers to the Federal Government to expand our children's healthcare program, so we actually ended up with one of the more generous SCHIP programs in the country. We had more kids as a percentage of children who were eligible for children's healthcare, sponsored and subsidized by the State and Federal Government, than most other States, and what we found was that was actually reducing the cost of healthcare over time. I got to listen to a little bit of the rhetoric on the other side of the aisle earlier, and they act as if we have existing today a fiscally responsible system of healthcare. We don't. We have the most expensive healthcare system in the world. You may have covered this earlier before I got on to the floor. But we have the most expensive healthcare system in the world for outcomes that are lucky if they rival those of countries that spend 50 percent less on their healthcare, 16 percent of GDP in this country compared to 10 or 11 percent in other countries that insure everybody and get basically the same or better outcomes.”