Political Quotes

“Well, I thank my colleague for that acknowledgment, and that is why the thought that innovation would leave the American health care system terrifies me. Innovation is the answer to the threats, both natural and intentional, that could come to this country and everywhere in the world. We never know what is around the corner. But our ability to innovate in this country has always kept us one step ahead, and I believe we are on the cusp of a new era of innovation that can only be thwarted if in fact this health care bill is fully implemented. Because the incentive will now be gone for entrepreneurs to take risks. There is no longer going to be an incentive that says take a risk and there is an opportunity at a reward. As the Senator from Wyoming pointed out very well, we created Medicare Part D. What a novel approach, to take a health care benefit that didn't exist in the 1960s, when we created Medicare and matched it up with the coverage of the rest of the delivery system. What was the result of creating market-based coverage? Today, Medicare Part D costs 50 percent less than the estimate we made years ago when we created it in terms of what the annual premium cost was going to be. Why? It is because we created private sector competition. We didn't create government plans. It probably would have been much easier to say, okay, we are going to supply a benefit for every senior in the country.…”