On the recordFebruary 3, 2015
I stand before you in support of H.R. 596 for three reasons. First, of all, I am a member of the middle class. Secondly, I am an employer. I was an employer of a small business and had employees. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, I am a health care professional, the only pharmacist in Congress. And I can tell you that the Affordable Care Act, ObamaCare, is destroying health care that I have worked in for over 30 years, and I refuse to step aside and let that happen. Mr. Speaker, the ACA has increased costs, increased deductibles, and decreased coverage for the middle class. That is not what it was supposed to do. For employers, it has increased costs and decreased the coverage for their patients and, most importantly, for health care, Mr. Speaker. What ObamaCare has done is to drive the free market out of health care. You don't see any more independent pharmacies. You don't see any more independent doctors. They are all members of health care systems or hospitals employed by them. There are only three or four major pharmacies now, and we are heading more toward that. {time} 1600 You don't see patients having a say in their drug coverage anymore. Drug therapy is decided not by a pharmacist, not by a doctor, not by the patient, but by insurance companies and government. ObamaCare has to end.
