Chris Murphy: “I will be joined in a little bit by my friend and my colleague, Dr. Phil Gingrey of Georgia, for this next hour. It is…”

“I will be joined in a little bit by my friend and my colleague, Dr. Phil Gingrey of Georgia, for this next hour. It is important that we lay out a large segment of what we believe is a critically important agenda to reform health care in America. We know that few things are more valuable to us than the health of our families. When the health of our families is threatened, we feel frightened, we feel vulnerable, and we desperately search for help. I think few would challenge that the United States provides, as available, the best health care in the world, dedicated and caring physicians and nurses and hospitals and professionals, and we have made huge technological advances in fighting disease and prolonging life. Our research and medical technology is second to none. It significantly advances every year. However, despite these many accomplishments, the American health care system is burdened by severe problems that lower quality and increase costs and too often make this system unaffordable and inaccessible for millions of Americans. Too many families, unfortunately, are only able to window-shop for health care coverage, and they feel as though they cannot go into the store. Tonight, those colleagues of ours on our side of the aisle, who are part of our health care team, will be talking about a number of important issues to advance this cause. Mr.…”