Charles Rangel: “I think the Republicans should be lauded for attempting at least to pick up the pieces of what has to be a concern to…”

“I think the Republicans should be lauded for attempting at least to pick up the pieces of what has to be a concern to all Americans, and that is inadequate health care for most of our citizens, especially those people who are working and do not have access to insurance. They are not insured by the Federal Government, because they make too much money, and, of course, they do not have enough money to get their own insurance. But why the Republicans would come in with an insurance plan that allows tax exemptions for people who can afford just to put it in a bank account and if they make certain that it is a high deductible, that is that the only time that they can use it is for catastrophic diseases, then it just seems to me that what we are doing is allowing the insurance companies to cherry-pick and select those people who are healthy and then those people who are not insured by that can come right back and fall on the regular public system that is there. What we do need is a comprehensive insurance program that really was the one that was initiated before, and perhaps it was too much to consume at one time, but we cannot forget that there are 40 million people out there in the United States that have no insurance at all, and these are the people that are the most vulnerable and these are the people that cannot afford to have these type of savings accounts which are there to protect those who already have.”