Political Quotes

“I rise today to talk about a subject that has been on our minds in recent weeks and months and, in fact, years; that is, healthcare--one of the most complex and confusing but important topics that we have to consider. Before I get into the bulk of what I want to address, I want to make the point once again that as we are debating healthcare and debating who pays, how much they pay, whether it is the ACA or Medicare or Medicaid or private insurance or private pay, we also have to begin a serious discussion about the underlying cost of healthcare. Regardless of who is paying, it is going to break us. If healthcare continues to grow in cost as it has over the last 20 years, it is going to eat the Federal budget, family budgets, individual budgets, and it is going to be something we absolutely have to address. Usually around here we don't address something until it is a crisis. I would argue, as we are approaching 20 percent of GDP, with $1 out of every $5 in the country being committed to healthcare costs--more than twice as much as most other countries in the world, far more than any other country in the world--we have to address this issue. Arguing about who pays is not going to solve the problem. That is important because in the interim, that is what is going to protect our citizens' coverage and what is going to protect our citizens from a healthcare disaster, a healthcare crisis.…”