Rob Andrews: “And my colleagues, we have listened to the many stories told by people this morning with great empathy about people who…”

“And my colleagues, we have listened to the many stories told by people this morning with great empathy about people who got a cancelation notice and want to keep the policy that they have. The issue before the House is whether we want to solve the problem or create another problem. That is the issue. If we want to work together, as we should, to solve the problem of Americans receiving cancelation notices and not being able to keep policies that they have, it requires us to do three things. First, we have to legally authorize insurance companies to offer these policies on into the future. The Democratic plan which I have proposed does that and, frankly, so does Mr. Upton's bill. The second thing that we have to do, though, is make sure that the insurance companies offer the plans for sale. It really does you no good at all if you have the right to buy a plan that the insurance company refuses to sell. Mr. Upton's bill is mute on that point. It might be called the ``Insurance Companies Bill of Rights'' because they have the right to do or not do anything they choose, but the people that we all say that we want to protect really have no rights at all. This is an important distinguishing point in the plan that I am offering now, and I would urge everyone to support. We have drawn from language offered by my friend from Illinois (Ms.…”