Christopher Shays: “See, that's, I think, one of the key points. You could make an assumption that 15 percent are not covered and you're now…”

“See, that's, I think, one of the key points. You could make an assumption that 15 percent are not covered and you're now going to cover them, that it means it's going to be more expensive for everyone. And there are arguments that we might have to phase the legislation in to make sure that we get more doctors and nurses and so on because we're looking at potential shortages. But the key thing is that those that don't have insurance have extreme measures taken, and by extreme, more services, more costly services. And so we have this artificially inflated cost, and that clearly will have an impact if everyone is, in fact, covered. Before we end, I'd love to make sure we just go right through the simple parts of this legislation. If I could just start by saying you've written a bill that says all Americans should have the same health care benefits and opportunities that Federal employees have. Federal employees, Members of Congress who are Federal employees, we pay 28 percent of the cost, the government pays 72 percent of the cost. We can get a more expensive plan or we can get a less expensive plan. What your plan does is it puts everyone in a pool, one pool, 300 million people. It spreads out the cost. It gives all Americans at least, probably--we have now 18 choices, there will probably be more, and they have choice. Your plan says that you will never lose your insurance, ever. Your plan says it doesn't matter if you're an employer with five employees or one with a thousand.”