Political Quotes

“I feel compelled to say a word on the heels of our colleague from Alabama, whom I salute as he heads off into the setting Sun. I wish him well and to have a good break. When I was in the Navy during the Vietnam war, when we weren't flying a lot of missions off the coast of Cambodia and Vietnam, we flew into a lot of other countries, including Japan. I have always had an interest in Japan in terms of the way they provide health care. One thing that intrigues me about that is that they spend half as much money for health care as we do. They spend 8 percent of gross domestic product. We spend 16 percent of gross domestic product. They get better outcomes--everything from longer life expectancy to lower rates of infant mortality--and they cover everybody. They cover everybody. It is not socialized medicine. They have a private health care delivery system and private health insurance companies as well as we do, but they get a better result for about half the money we do, and we have to compete with them. It is not a fair competition. We have our businesses that are competing directly with the Japanese and, frankly, with other countries as well. But when they are spending half as much money for health care, and we are trying to compete our businesses against theirs, it is not a fair fight. It is like having one arm tied behind our back.…”