John Ensign: “I will not be very long. I will be very brief. I want to speak about the bill that the Presiding Officer, the Senator…”

“I will not be very long. I will be very brief. I want to speak about the bill that the Presiding Officer, the Senator from Wyoming, has brought forth from the HELP Committee. I have the honor of serving with the chairman on the HELP Committee. I think he has done a great job crafting this bill, which will offer more people the ability to afford health insurance in America. We have heard reports about how many uninsured Americans are in our country today. The fundamental point is that a lot of Americans simply cannot afford to buy health insurance. And, many uninsured Americans are employed by small businesses. I have built, owned, and operated two animal hospitals, veterinary hospitals. As a small business owner, it is very difficult to afford to buy health insurance, not only for yourself, but, obviously, for your employees. One of the reasons it is difficult to buy health insurance relates to purchasing power. When you have a small number of people, it is difficult to go to insurance companies and negotiate effectively for good prices. If you have 20 employees versus a company that has 20,000 employees, the company with 20,000 employees has a lot more buying power and, therefore, can negotiate prices down more effectively than the smaller company.…”