Frank Pallone: “The problem for American consumers is that the insurance company gouges them with high premiums and gives them lousy…”

“The problem for American consumers is that the insurance company gouges them with high premiums and gives them lousy benefits. So all we've been trying to do with health care reform is make it possible for a consumer to get an affordable policy and to have a decent benefits package. I, for the life of me, don't understand why the Republicans don't want that to happen. Why do they want the consumer not to be able to get affordable insurance or to be able to get decent benefits? People are amazed because they expect that their insurance policy is going to provide physician care, hospital care, emergency care, prescription drugs, and oftentimes it doesn't even provide all these things. So there should be an essential benefit package. If you're a big corporation, you can go out and get a nice benefit package for employees, and you can get an affordable policy. But if you're a small business or you're an individual, you can't do it. So all we're doing is trying to level the playing field so that the little guy can get the good benefit package and get the affordable insurance just like the big corporation. Again, I don't understand why our Republican friends would not want that to happen. And it's just practical. It's just a practical solution here. If you pass this amendment, then we're going to go back to the same thing again where that average American can't get the good policy and can't get affordable insurance. It's not fair. It's an issue of fairness.”