On the recordApril 13, 2011
We are spending our dollars wisely when we are investing in prevention and wellness because prevention works. Prevention saves money, it saves the taxpayers money, it saves families money and it saves lives. Now, there has been a great debate all across America about health care over the past few years. I think we can all agree on that. Part of the importance of the health care debate was that our health care system for too long has focused and spent money at the end game on sickness, when people have cancer, and that's fine, but we can be smarter about it. We have a lot more knowledge and a lot of experts that have advised us all that if you invest in prevention to encourage folks not to smoke, not to drink, those easy things, very easy in lifestyle, but oftentimes they need a little extra help. Parents should turn off the TV and the kids should go out and play. They should exercise. But sometimes it's that little extra push. And if we can make a dent in childhood obesity, diabetes, cancer, a stroke, because we have encouraged healthier lifestyles with this very modest investment, that will be a great accomplishment. And that's part of what the health care debate was about, taking this modest investment in public health and empowering our communities to make those decisions on what works for them. Prevention works. It's smart. I urge the adoption of my amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.
