Ann Marie Buerkle: “It is good to be here. I thank the distinguished gentleman, my colleague from Georgia. I am very honored to be here to…”

“It is good to be here. I thank the distinguished gentleman, my colleague from Georgia. I am very honored to be here to speak about health care in the United States of America. As was said, I am a registered nurse. I have been a registered nurse since 1972, a time in our Nation's health history where the physician and the patient had a relationship, and the government had not injected itself into that relationship. And then after awhile, I went into law. And for the last 13 years, Mr. Speaker, I have been a health care attorney for a large teaching hospital in upstate New York, for the last 13 years. What we did in that hospital and in my role as an assistant attorney general, we look at money, money that was owed to the State of New York. So I had a very up close and personal look at the complexity of health care in our country today. I contend that this bill, this piece of legislation that does anything but reform health care, will only increase the complexity of health care in this country. It will only make it more complicated. It will once again put the government right in the middle of the patient- physician relationship. I contend that is not what the United States of America is about. We need to let the free market play here in our health care system. I have spoken in my district to many, many people. I have done all kinds of talks, but there is nothing more up close and personal and of great concern to me than the health care system in our country.…”